Despicable We
by the Klabautermann
Summary: Gru very suddenly decides to quit villainy. Girls are happy about the news, but soon after, a most despicable personality starts coming out form Gru. What has happened? And why did he quit villainy in first place?
1. The Goal

Three weeks have passed since Gru's famous and somewhat successful attempt to steal the Moon. He and the girls have settled down for a normal, peaceful family life... which, naturally, attracted unwanted attention of several persons around the world, including the one closest to him, dr. Nefario.

„Don't you care about your reputation at all, Gru?" he would ask in desperation, surrounded by a couple of minions who nervously waited for an answer. However, they weren't going to get a concrete one soon enough.

„Of course I do, but I have to take care of the gurlz, right?" Nefario would here usually proceed to het some head pills.

"Do not worry about anything, I already have everything planned out."

He would say those words with so much confidence, that both Gru's faithful minions and Nefario soon became assured Gru was planning on doing something big. Maybe even more scandalous than the Moon thing.

They had no idea that this evening they were going to get the answer, and not a pleasant one.

That afternoon, Gru was spending his time playing with the girls as usual. Today, they had fun learning origami from a book Agnes drew out of nowhere, it would appear. Not questioning the origins of a book, the four of them quickly started working on various shapes, only for Agnes being the first one to give up, mainly because her small fingers still weren't skilled enough.

„I want to play something else." She announced after twenty minutes, pouting.

„Don't be like dat! Didn't I teach you gurls to never give up on your goal?" Gru wisely replied, though with a spark of playfulness in his blue eyes – apparently, he enjoyed origami more than he expected he would. The same could be said for Margo, who rather quickly grasped the basics of origami. Edith, on the other hand, had lots of will and very thin nerves, so every other shape would end up squashed.

„But it is too hard~" Agnes whined. For a moment there, Gru got an urge to hold her tightly, that's how cute she was. But whether he was going to do it or not, he didn't have a chance to, as one of the minions suddenly rushed into the room, babbling in it's weird "language".

„What ees eet Jon?" Gru asked, his eyebrow cocked. The minion who apparently was named Jon jumped up and down in excitement, speaking fast in his undetectable language.

"Tokita dido! Dido arikimu oka!

"Tell him I'll be right there." Gru finally answered, and the minion disappeared as fast as he came.

"Sorry gurlz, but I have something to discuss with dr. Nefario. Now, now, I'll be back soon." He added in the end, making the saddened expressions of the girls quickly disappear. They all eagerly nodded their heads, and got back to work.

Gru headed down to his headquarters, soon finding dr. Nefario waiting for him with on a computer.

"Gru!" he called or him somewhat angrily." Have you forgotten what day it is today?"

Judging by the confused expression on his face, Nefario could easily answer that question by himself.

"The convention! You are supposed to be at the Super Villain convention in one hour! If you do remember, you're still one of the greatest villains of all time!" Nefario nervously blabbered out.

"What? Dat ees today?" Gru next addressed a bunch of his minions nearby who were listening.

"Prepare me dee transportation, fast!" the minions scattered around in a minute, informing others about the news and getting help. Gru on the other hand was going back up to get dressed, in process informing Nefario and minion Dave:

"Inform dee gurlz – tell them I'll be back by dee time for dinner."

In the matter of about twenty minutes, Gru was already in the air, in one of his flying ships, accompanied by Dave and Tim. He was constantly looking at his watch, worried he might not be there on time. It wouldn't be any disaster, but he had a reputation to take care of… although, that didn't matter anymore, he thought.

Finally, one of the minions excitedly attracted his attention, pointing somewhere in front of them. A small island was saw in the distance, and on first sight, there was nothing but forest surrounding the lake in the middle of it. But as he got closer, Gru merely had to press one of the buttons he installed on his ship – a huge tunnel opened on one of the cliffs, and Gru elegantly directed the ship inside. After a minute, he finally stopped, and him and the minion came out, finding themselves in a huge space. The ceiling and the walls were not taken care of, all of them remaining the stone they were, but the floor was covered with huge metal platforms, making it a perfect landing spot.

In a small distance to the left, metal door could be seen in the stone wall.

"You two stay here, and guard dee ship. Don't screw things up while I'm gone!" he warned in the end, making the two minions obediently stand still in front of the ships door.

As Gru came to the door, he checked out the time – he arrived exactly one minute earlier. Taking a deep breath, he elegantly pushed the door in front of him. What seemed like heavy door made of steel opened with ease, revealing a long and high chamber of white walls, black floor and ceiling. There was nothing but a big simple lamp above, and a long table in front of him. The table had places for thirteen people, out of which, at the moment, twelve were filled. One of the chairs, unlike the others that presented the villains place in the world, didn't have a number. In front of every person was a glass of unknown drink of poisonous green color, and a notbook.

All of the heads rose up as they heard Gru's footsteps.

"Gru. It was about the time you showed up." A familiar, young voice came from the seat number two – Vector was all well and healthy thanks to the help of his father, yet being stranded on the Moon for 3 days surely did have an impact on him – every time someone would mention the Moon, he would twitch in an odd manner, almost as if he's been stinged.

He was his usual self, yet his face showed no sign of welcome when he mentioned Gru's name.

Gru did not reply, but merely gave him a cocky smile, while taking a seat on his position as number 1, a title he finally got only a week ago, after long discussions and debates of the villains all over the world. A few heads of the people nodded in recognition, but aside from that, the rest of the people seemed a bit sour.

"Well, I guess we can begin now." An elderly voice came from the chair with no number. An old, tall man of thin figure and elegant posture was looking down at them with expression of impatience. He was called merely the Chairman – no one knew his real name, but he used to be known to the world as Nitroo, one of the greatest villains of all time, which gave him the privilege to lead these meetings. He gave up that name every since he was given the title of chairman five years ago.

"In fact, we couldn't have begun without you at all, Gru, since we're all eager to hear your plans for the future…" he finished the sentence in a questioning manner, wondering if Gru even had such plans.

"Actually, Mr. Chairman, I do have very big plans, dat I'm sure will surprise all of you." Gru again stood up again, attracting curios look of the people in the room.

"My _dear_ fellow villains I will not bother you with many words or speeches, as what I have to say is rather simple." Gru made a pause though, only making the listeners more curious.

He finally announced, his sentence taking away breaths, and filling the room with gasps.  
"I quit on my place as a villain forever."


	2. Evil

"I quit on my place as a villain… forever."

Silent, yet shocked gasps were heard across the room, but no one reacted nearly as hyper as Vector, who after a moment of shock let out a very loud "Oh yeah!" and started doing his hip dance in his chair.

Gru gave him a cold frown, then continued with an explanation:  
"As most of you probably already know, I recently, err… expanded my family. I have no more time… or will" here he stuttered a bit, his expression somewhat painful "to do dis job, but I found myself enjoying the job of a parent. It's been a great number of years, but I'm afraid I'll have to retire earlier dan I thought."

The Chairman opened his mouth in surprise, and then closed them again, looking a bit distracted. Then, on everyone's surprise, including Gru, he smiled.

"Of course. For what can bring more happiness, than someone to share the happiness with? Here Gru, let us toast…" the Chairman reached underneath the table, pulling a neatly packed bottle out of his bag.

"I held onto it, thinking we'll be toasting to your greatest heist, but obviously, we have an even better thing to toast to! Boy!" he called, and a short, skinny person, whose age was undetectable despite its size, showed up from behind the chair, where he must've been hiding. He was completely hairless and his eyes were of empty brown color. If he merely stood and looked the other way, a person could think he were a lamp or decoration, how plain he was.

"Serve the gentlemen, please boy." He said with most sweetness in his voice. The "boy" took a bottle, and with most robotic movements poured the poisonously green drink into everyone's glasses. The only proof he wasn't a robot was the fact he was looking around freely with his empty eyes.

"For you Gru! For you, and your wonderful, new… family." the Chairman announced. Everybody glanced over each other, probably wondering if anyone was going to openly refuse the toast proposed by a Chairman, but it was obvious nobody dared to. After a millisecond of tenseness, everybody, including Vector, raised their glasses like one, and with silent murmur of "for Gru" took a gulp. During this whole time, Gru was absolutely shocked to learn how nicely they took that news in.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman, everybody! I'm pleasantly surprised." He smiled as he gulped from his glass, not noticing the winning glance in Chairman's eyes. The boy frowned.

"Gurlz! I'm home!" Gru yelled from the doors, his words instantly making the house tremble from the force girls created while running towards him.

"Gru~!" they all fell into his arms to give him a group hug.

"Gru, where were you for so long? You told us you were going to be back soon." Margo demanded to know. Edith didn't seem too keen on bothering Gru with such things – instead, she was showing him a perfectly well made paper military airplane of complicated dimensions.

It was weird, how, even after quite the time they've spent together, the girls still haven't called him "dad" even once. Yet, he decided to be patient, since that word obviously wasn't in much usage during their lives.

"Look, I finally made it! It took me 30 minutes to do it right, but I finally made an ultimate paper weapon!" she gloriously announced with a smile, throwing it into the air – it flew perfectly until it hit a big ceiling lamp. Agnes was silent, being satisfied with clutching Gru as tight as she could.

"Good job Edith, I knew you could do eet sooner or later." He gave her a warm pat on the head, curving her beanie over her eyes a little bit in process.

"Actually Margo, dat is something I want to discuss with all of you. I have something important to tell you all. Come with me."

They all headed to the Gru's secret headquarters, inform minions to gather around in process. When both Nefario and the minions were all there, Gru finally told them as well what he had on his mind. The reaction was a loud roar of "WHAT?" coming from Nefario, joyful and confused screams of the girls and a lot of happy and nervous cheering from minions, who were happy that their boss had such a brilliant new plan, yet came to realize it wasn't as much of a plan as it was decision.

"Gru? Are you out of your mind?" Nefario roared once again, making all the yellow head turn to him in curiosity, as if they were watching a show.

"Now there ees no need to worry…" Gru tried to continue, but a few minions once again caused a commotion by starting to cry. Apparently, the thought of them being "fired" wasn't very comfortable. Luckily, Gru quickly managed to figure out what the problem was.

"Nobody is fired!" he angrily added, his angry reaction bringing back the relief into the hearts of his faithful servants.

"I thought about dis a lot, and I see no reason for you not to stay with me. After all, you guys are the reason I became the number one villain in the world, and also, in a way, my err, family." He finally said those words, which was a bit hard for him, but honest. The minions cackled happily, a few of them crying again, but out of joy. Nefario was still holding his face in his palms, while girls looked happier with every word that came out of their fathers' mouth. Only Edith seemed a bit disappointed, yet happy their father choose them over his work.

"Now, dr. Nefario, I know you don't like dee idea, but you must either accept eet or… well, I hate to even think about eet, but you're fully aware of dee fact you can look for someone else to work for. I'll understand." Gru seemed to have great difficulties saying those words, as he sighed rather heavily when he finished, and couldn't even look at him properly, more like glancing at him and then at the floor. The whole room was filled with nothing but silence and tension, the girls and the minions looking intently at both of them, waiting without a breath Nefario's decision.

Now, as much as dr. Nefario was a, we could call it, "hard core" when it came to his work, he didn't have to think a lot before he answered.

"You fool. You know very well I would never left you alone over such a thingy. Besides, you're fully aware of the fact you can't look after yourself without me." He chuckled, and the room nearly exploded from the head-over-hills happy cheers. Trying to look cool, Gru let out a big breath of relief and smiled.

"Pathetic fool. Don't think you can escape your obligations like it's a natural thing to do." The Chairman told to himself, looking out through a window of gigantic dimensions, a beautiful view of the sea and a small, colorful lively town somewhere deep down in the bed of the mountain in front of him. His slightly hatchet face was expressing calm joy as he drank more of the poisonously green drink.

"You did a good job today boy. I'm proud of you. You're becoming smarter by every passing day." He addressed the figure in the shadow of the curtain. He replied nothing.

The Chairman looked at his watch. 11:39. He grinned.

"In twenty-one minutes… our game begins."

On the other side of the world, in the middle of a suburban neighborhood sits a black house with a dead lawn. Inside of it, at exactly 00:00, present day, a new life was born. A life most sinister.


	3. Sweet Dreams

A strong storm made Gru wake up. His eyes popped open on the loud, deafening sound of the thunder, and his heart raced. For some reason he was breathing heavily. Soon he became aware of the fact he just had a nightmare – he KNEW he did – but couldn't recall any of it. He felt odd and his back hurt, and he soon realized why – he was on the middle of his bedroom floor. Confused by how in the world he got there, he tried to stand up, only to feel his whole body ache.

Gru groaned as he walked up to the nightstand and checked the time. It was 6:24 am. Way too early for either him or the girls to wake up. In fact, he was probably the only person awake in the house. Slightly removing the curtain, he discovered the whole sky was covered in dark, thick clouds, rain pouring in huge amounts. It felt like evening, and humidity was felt in the air.

Feeling quite awake, he saw no sense in going back to bed, so he went to the bathroom to take care of himself. There he noticed another thing that seriously made him scared – he was dressed in one of his black spy suits, with one of his utility belts over his chest, and one of them around his waist.

Wondering how didn't he noticed that until now, and deciding to question the mysterious circumstances under which he woke up later, he took a refreshing shower and changed into his usual clothes. As he headed downstairs, Gru desperately tried to remember the last night. He knew very well that the whole household had a celebration in honor of his early retirement, and everybody stayed up until late. At about 11:30 he sent everybody to sleep, had a drink with Nefario, went to bed soon after… and that was all. At least all he remembered.

Then he finally noticed the last straw of this bizarre morning – right in the middle of room, a few feet in front of his front door, was a large mixed collection of jewelry, money, labeled clothing, and other things that anyone would easily categorize as extremely valuable. Many of the valuables scattered around the room, such as jewels, earrings, or coins. Gru swallowed as he approached the pile of things he's never even seen before. He reached into the stack to pull out a magnificent necklace made of diamonds; thing so beautiful, and so heavy, he almost let it slip from his hand.

"What een da world iz going on?" he whispered to himself quietly. He decided it would be the best to hide these things, or to simply return them or send them back anonymously – nobody was going to know about this, especially not the girls. He couldn't deny the hint of proud in his chest, as all the evidence were pointing towards him being the criminal, and he obviously did a quite good job, yet, he knew he was in bed… or was he? And how could he do this?

"Dere ees no doubt… eet was me… Wait! Dee cameras!" he hurried down to his secret headquarters, and searched for the recordings of the last night. His room was only having cameras on the entrance, so he couldn't see the exact time he may have gotten out of bed. After finding it, he quickly re-winded it towards the time he went to sleep: 11:42.

Without a breath, Gru stared at the screen, seeing nothing but the floor and a small table next to the door of his room. He speed forwarded it, and soon noticed something – his own shadow. In shock, he was soon looking at himself, still wearing pajamas, going through the doors - but not in any slow paced manner, but fast – one would say, almost angrily. Was he ever sleep walking? And like this?

He kept watching. He clearly saw himself getting dressed, getting the weaponry, the utility belts, and then storming off into the night… Gru fast forwarded again, only to see himself coming home at about 4 am, with a big cloth bag.

"My God…" Gru whispered – the camera was the obvious evidence that he was the one who brought home all those valuables, and merely emptied the bag on the floor as soon as the door closed. It really agitated him that it was too dark too see his own face, but the tape also seemed to capture the beginning of the storm - in that moment a strong thunder shone across the room. Gru paused. A look most sinister was on his face, an expression that, he was sure, he never made in his life… yet there it was. Swallowing, Gru proceeded watching the tape.

Gru on a tape was enjoying his loot, when suddenly, he started to breathe heavily. He clutched his chest, and for a moment caught some breath – just enough to climb the stairs, and barge into his own bedroom. There, trying to get to his bed, he finally collapsed on the floor… in the exact same spot, with the exact same pose Gru woke up with.

"What is going on? What is wrong with me?" Gru's hand felt his own face and chest, almost as if he was looking for a deformed body part – never in his life has he felt so… Despicably awful.


	4. Plan

"Good morning Mr. Gru!" Agnes' voice echoed across the kitchen, her being followed by her two sisters. They were all looking tired but pleased of how they spent the evening – awake until late and having fun celebrating.

"Morning gurlz!" Gru nervously greeted them – he crouched to give each of them a kiss before returning to making pancakes for breakfast. It was 9 am, and he had plenty of time to take care of the valuables he brought from who knows where – he hid them all in a chest in his bedroom, since rarely anyone entered there, let alone touch his personal stuff. He swore to himself he would somehow give them back as soon as he could.

"Turn on the TV! I heard they're re-airing Conan!" Edith demanded, on which Margo tuned on the small television on one of the counters. However, Edith wasn't going to get to watch her movie soon enough, as the regular program seemed to be interrupted with exclusive news.

"_Numerous reports have been made last night about various break ins in some of the most elite stores in the city, out of which "Beretton Jewelry", "Etna Museum" and "AGB" have suffered the highest damage. Altogether the culprits, for which is believed there was more than two, have stolen things in value over 3,500,000$. This robbery is probably one of the biggest unsolved crime mysteries in last 20 years in our city, and has brought a severe damage to the citizens trust – right after the airing of the news, a small, but growing group of citizens gathered in front of the City Police Station, demanding to know the details, and increased security."_

The scene of a female woman announcing the news was replaced with a live airing of a bunch of police officers, and police captain talking about the current situation. In front of them was a horde of journalists, reporters and worried citizens who had no smarter things to do.

"_So far, we have no news about who the culprit or culprits may be. Out teams are out on the field, and are giving their best to catch this criminal, and I can assure you we will do so._"

"_Mr. Gareth, is it true what they say about the all the cameras being turned off when you came to the crime scene? Could it be that it is about a well organized job on the inside?_" a young curly reporter demanded to know, her eyes hungry for information.

"_Mr. Gareth, people have been making reports of a giant UFO being seen in the night, could it be that government and/or forces from space is involved in this?_" a man with thick glasses asked.

"_Could it be another in the series of mysterious disappearances such as the case of pyramid of Giza and the Moon?" _

The voices popped out of everywhere, questioning even the most bizarre of theories.

Mr. Gareth sighed heavily, obviously annoyed by a bunch of both accurate and inaccurate rumors those vultures dug out of nowhere. The young curly might not have been far from the truth though.

"_The only thing we're can say is that it is the truth the cameras didn't work at the time of the robbery. We'll release a full report on what happened as soon as we catch the culprit._"

The captain started returning back to the station, the reporters still yelling after him, and asking weird, or incredibly accurate things. The scene returned to the woman in the studio.

"_We'll keep updating and re-airing the news about the robberies, about which you can read more on our Internet portal – if you've seen or heard anything suspicious, be sure to call…_"

_Crash._

"Gru, are you OK?" Margo asked loudly, making the two other girls turn to him in concern. Gru was standing as still as a statue, and recently prepared plate with a pancake fell on the floor. All three of them hurried to see him.

"Gru, say something."

Gru awakened from his horrified daze on the sound of plate crashing, but he still needed a couple of moments to get himself together. He was pale.

"I, I yes, I'm fine, why doo you ask? Oh…" he looked at the broken plate, and a splattered pancake on the floor.

"Sorry gurlz, I must've scared you. It's nothing, I was just thinking, err… I waz wondering eef maybe… Vector! Did all dese robberies! He needed something to heal hiz mental wounds, heh." Though the whole story literally sounded a little weird, as he was still terrified by the news, the girls seemed to have lightened up when they heard their father was fine. Edith chuckled on the mention of Vector.

"I'm sure he won't recover that soon."

"Maybe we should send him some cookies." Agnes cutely suggested.

"He loves cookies. And in shape of unicorns!" she added delightfully. The other two sisters rolled their eyes, but Gru smiled, feeling warmth around his heart melting the stress away. He never felt his heart racing that much, and he realized he'll have to act fast to return the valuables. There was also the question of what in the world was wrong with him – a sleep walking robbery was something no person could do, not even the greatest villain ever.

_An EX greatest villain ever._

He shook that uncomfortable thought off, as he said:

"We'll make some later maybe. Now as soon as I clean this mess… are you for some pancakes? I also have unicorn shaped~" he added in the end, prolonging the word "shape" sweetly. Agnes reacted immediately, cheerfully sitting back to get her breakfast. Edith and Margo and sat down, eagerly, and hungry waiting. The three of them watched as their father cleaned up the floor, and although they did not know that, the three of them simply had the almost same, if not exactly the same thought in their little heads.

_What a great dad._

"Dave, Tim, I need you to help me. It ees very very important, and it ees also a big secret, so you must not tell anyone."

Gru knew he could store all the secrets of the world in tiny minds of his minions, where those secrets would never come out from. His minions, including the due here, may not have been the brightest and most rational beings ever, but they sure were loyal, and that was all he needed.

They were in his bedroom, where a couple of mentioned minions joined him on his request, and in secret. Wondering what in the world might they alone be needed for, they listened carefully.

Gru unlocked, unstrapped and eye scanned the chest, upon which it finally opened, revealing the stash. Minions gasped, and babbled something out. Tim looked at Gru.

"Toka kokita, maitiru kapo?"

"No, no, I am not a villain anymore! I told you already! This ees… well, eet doesn't matter to you. What ees important though…" he made a pause here, showing at the content of the chest.

"Ees that you help me return dese things to dee City Police Station."

Minions looked at each other confused – usually, Gru was the one taking, not giving back. Or giving at all.

"We'll go today at noon – during dee night dee security ees only increased. We'll put eet all in one place – the roof. Dey come dere a couple of times a day, rarely, so we have time, but we have to make it for a right moment. And no!" he immediately said as one of the minions opened their mouth.

"We cannot use dee ship! They could track us down easily in the city."

He closed the chest, and looked at still confused but determined faces of his minions.

"Prepare the transport and everything necessary. Freeze ray included." he added darkly.


	5. For the Gurlz

Gru definitely was right when saying it is safer to do the job during the day – many of the officers were out on duty, still checking out the crime scenes, and the station was half empty – naturally, for what criminal in the world would show up with stolen stash in a Police Station? Some would say only the dumbest, but maybe it was the other way around?

Around the corner of the street came a hunch backed, bald police captain, carrying a big bag. He was followed by a short guy in a coat of funny walk, with too big hat, big nose and glasses and a mustache. Anyone knowing Gru would immediately recognize him and his two minions standing on each other's shoulders in disguise, but luckily for them, they were strangers to most of the city.

"OK guyz, let's do dis nice and smooth." He told them quietly, before entering the station. He had his two yellow friends do a nice job by entering a fake ID into database of the station, so if anyone was suspicious, they could always check him under the name of Ivan Rudess, how he was named. Naturally, he was going to delete it as soon as they come back home. The sole process of doing the fake ID thingy was risky, but he had no other choice. Besides, this was supposed to be quick and quiet.

The station was big, warm and busy place, especially today – although many officers were out, many of them were working on cases or getting the people and journalists off the phone.

"Follow me. And no distractions, pleaze!" he ordered.

"Oke,oke." Dave and Tim replied giggly as they proceeded towards the stairs. However distraction came to them as one of the officers came from the stairway with a big pit bull on a chain. Naturally, the dogs' keen nose recognized unusual new scent around the short newcomer in a coat, and started barking ferociously.

The minions almost fell down of fear when the barking monster nearly jumped on them, and hid behind Gru. Gru was also a bit startled, but instead of backing down, he said:  
"Hey! Calm dat beest down a leedle, would you?"

The officer, a chubby but muscular man of blonde hair looked at him a bit annoyed.

"Why don't you try it, Mr. Know-it-All? It's a pit bull! There's not a bloody thing in the world that can calm him down."

_Oh I know of a weapon or two…_

"Who are you anyway? I haven't seen you around here."

"I was transferred here, eef you must know. Ivan Rudess ees de name. And dis" he added when the minions earned a suspicious look from the officer.

"Ees detective Rapusnikov." Minions giggled again.

"He's from Russia, and can't understand a word of English, so dey sent me to introduce him to dee case of recent burglaries. He was specially called een when dey heard he waz in our city – Mr. Rapusnikov ees a veree famous detective back at hiz home town." He added significantly.

The officer became more convinced with every word Gru said – not that Gru was that good of a speaker, but truth to be told, he wasn't very bright. If he only looked closer, the mustache was obviously a fake. Besides, he wasn't going to go against the Police Captain from another city.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't going to bother you in your investigation." He finally said a bit shamed.

"Eet ees fine; just keep dat monster out of our way." He gestured with his hand as I he were saying "shoo".

"Come on Zeus, move!" the officer finally said. The dog was still trying to catch the frightened minions, but with no success.

"Akame noi, e~, kaketu paka?"

"If he catches you, I'll kill you." Gru answered darkly. The minions shivered, and continued to follow. They finally made it to the stair well, and were going up and up, every step bringing more of a smile on their faces – when they heard a somewhat familiar voice.

"I want every patrol to be out there and working on this! How can a single person rob 7 elite stores in one night, tell me, damn it! I will not give up on this until we have the culprit behind the bars and with a confession!"

Judging by what the person said and the familiarity of the voice, Gru concluded it was the Police Captain, Gareth, he saw on the news. He wasn't going to expect him here, and now the biggest obstacle was in their way. Captain Gareth was coming down fast, and Gru desperately started to look around. Wall, floor, ceiling, downstairs, upstairs… Damn it, he had no choice!

"I swear to you Stan, once I get my hand on that guy, I will draw the facts out of him with pliers if I need to!" Gareth raged as he was coming down. He and another officer quickly walked past a somewhat biglocker. Just as they were to go down, something creaky was heard. Gareth stopped on the spot and looked behind. The locker was ajar.

Gareth stood there, with undefined look on his face, and then roared, the stress finally showing its face.

"Can no one fix this damn thing?" and slammed the locker door, making it jammed. He seemed satisfied though, as he proceeded down with no further raging.

After a minute of silence, a painful wince was heard from inside of locker.

"Dat will leave a mark." Gru painfully noticed, his minions face pressed into his face by the jammed door. They somehow managed to squeeze inside, yet closing the door was an issue captain fixed for them. The problem was, they couldn't get out.

"OK, new plan. Prepare to get burned a bit guyz." For a next minute, nothing but occasional "owie" was heard, along with strange buzzing noise. In the next moment, Gru's feet appeared under the locker, his body carrying the rest of it. The locker bottom remained burned on the floor by his laser gun.

"Heh, we should have done dis from dee start, eh?" Gru tried to joke, only to get nervous giggling in return. However, their improvised "plan" was more successful than they thought – after hiding the bottom of locker behind a plant, they used their disguise two more times to avoid the weird meetings. Finally after 30 minute climbing, they reached the roof door. Gru decided it was a right time to use the gun now, yet the small space didn't leave him a lot of room for maneuver – the usage of a laser gun to get out prolonged. Once they were finally out of the cursed locker, Gru stated, still catching the air:

"Do not ever mention dat locker to me… ever."

Minions cackled joyfully, then hugged each other letting out "aww-ing" sounds, and then fell on the floor laughing like crazy. Gru grunted – being in the small locker with his minions definitely brought more physical contact than he needed – enough for a laughing material, at least.

"Enough of dat! We still have a job to do!" he informed them, and they got serious right away. Gru opened the roof door - a sudden breath of wind made them all feel reborn.

"No one seems to be here... OK, d' bag!" Tim handed him over a big bag with Dave's help, and Gru quickly threw it a few feet away. He didn't worry about the fingerprints as he used a small handkerchief to conceal his prints.

"Now it's time for some action." Gru took out a small metallic device from the coat of minions, who finally quit standing on each other – it seemed they quite enjoyed it – and ran toward the edge of the roof. He placed the device on the edge of building, and pressed a button. A firm rope immediately flew down, allowing them to descend right into a small alley full of trash.

"And off we go. Mission complete." Gru happily noticed. He let the minions go first as he checked the time. 01:00 pm. In exactly one hour, their mission was complete.

"Now to see Dr. Nefario. He'll definitely know what is wrong with me." He told himself comfortably as he started to descend into the alley.

"Gru, you're perfectly healthy.

"Wat?"

"There is no sign of any lack of natural compounds, no sign of intoxications, no weird or unusual symptoms… I think in fact you might be one of the healthiest people in this city." He finally added a bit jokingly.

Gru was sitting half naked on a checkup table in Dr. Nefarios' quarters, expecting to hear that he was sick or had a health condition, preparing himself since the moment the tests were made yesterday, for bad news – this time he wasn't sure if he was happy to hear such good news.

"But… dat's impossible, I…"

"Will you now finally tell me what was I testing you for? I've been on it for whole afternoon; I think I deserve to know. And why aren't you happy to hear you're healthier than most people alive?"

Gru first took some time to put his sweater back, on, trying to buy some time to think of what to say… or how to say it. He got up and took a breath.

"Well, I guess you are dee one I can trust d' most…" Gru started his story, telling Nefario everything he saw and did, and about his little adventure from yesterday afternoon. Nefario was frowning at first, but by the time Gru finished the story, his mouth were gaping open.

"You did what—"

"I know, eet doesn't make any sense! Wat could've possibly happened to mee that it results in me robbing dee half of town and forget eet—"

"That is not what I'm talking about Gru! I mean, yes it is weird, and we'll get to it, but Gru – YOU RETURNED WHAT YOU STOLE?"

Gru blinked confusedly.

"Well, of course, that's a natural thing to do when—"

"Gru, you're a villain damn it! Villains don't… RETURN." Nefario pointed out the obvious.

"I'm not a villain anymore Nefario, I thought I made dat clear!" Gru replied a bit annoyed. He suddenly got up and was about to leave, fearing he might hear something he didn't want to – but Nefario was one step ahead of him.

"We both know the truth Gru!" Nefario loudly and somewhat angrily exclaimed, making Gru stop. He started to feel nervous, as if something important was about to happen.

"Come on Gru…" Neario started again, this time quietly, in apologetic tone. Grus' eyes were fixed for the knob as he was about to exit, but in fact he was carefully listening what Nefario was about to say.

"I've been with you ever since you started your villainy career. I know you. Being a villain is in your blood. You know as well as I that this is not what you really want."

Gru said nothing. He just stood there, taking Nefarios' words as best as he could. Nefario couldn't see nothing but his back of the head, but Gru's face expression was one of the pain.

"Why are you doing this Gru?" Nefario finally asked the question that has been bothering him ever since Gru's great decision.

Gru was silent for another moment then sighed. He even let out something that sounded like a sad laughter.

"Eesn't it obvious?" he finally replied with a question, looking back at Nefario with a soft sad smile.

"I'm doing eet for the gurzls." And with those words, he left astounded Nefario alone with his thoughts.


	6. Daddy

Shortly after the conversation with Nefario, and the confession he finally made, Gru oddly found himself staring into the empty space every once in a while – something a sharp witted villain like him rarely did. His mind was slowly trying to process all that happened in such a short time. The "sleep walking", the returning of the valuables, tons of health checks the morning after, and finally his true feeling about the idea of leaving villainy behind.

Leaving the girls to be babysat by Dave under the excuse he has something important to do, Gru spent the afternoon walking aimlessly around the neighborhood, trying to figure out what happened, hoping some fresh air would help. Unfortunately, he seemed to be too confident about that method, as when he returned home, he only found himself having ever weirder theories about last night. The only satisfying thing he came to conclude was that the neighbor indeed didn't allow his dog on Grus' lawn anymore. He must've taken that joke too seriously.

As he came home, the girls ran towards him to welcome him, as usual.

"Hello Mr. Gru!" Agnes greeted him cutely as usual.

"Hey keeten. What were you doing while I was gone?"

"We're making a house out of toilet paper." Edith announced before Margo could stop her.

"Oh God… please don't be mad, I'll clean everything up once they're done." Margo obviously tried, but failed stopping her sisters and a bunch of other minions who joined the game in making the living room look like a student campus party. At the moment, she looked pretty stressed, and a bit frightened of Grus' possible reaction.

Gru smiled, remembering how mad was he when they did the similar thing to the living room the first time he left them alone.

"Eet doesn't matter… I'm just glad you're having fun."

Margo blinked confusedly, but was relieved.

"Een fact, why don't you join dem? Eet seems to me you're missing a lot of fun." Gru encouraged her.

For a couple of moments, Margo hesitated, obviously wanting to present some kind of model to her sisters, but after one of Jon came out of the "toilet paper house" giggling madly, she simply couldn't resist to take a piece and try wrapping it around Ediths' head. For a moment, he was looking at them blissfully, forgetting his worries.

But then something happened.

Gru blinked. He didn't know what just happened, but he remembered he was having trouble breathing, Ediths' voice who warned Margo with something like "Gru is not OK", and after a second of darkness he found himself in the middle of the living room again. Only complete different scenery appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

Where there stood a "house" made of toilet paper was now nothing but a bunch of ashes. In the middle of it sat the minions covered in thick layer of ash, obviously being in it while it burned… or whatever happened to it. They were both looking shook up, and one of the sniffed a couple of times sadly.

Agnes was behind the couch, seemingly hiding. She wasn't looking at them, but staring at the wall. Edith was standing nearby, yelling something Gru couldn't hear. His ears felt like there was wax in them for a minute. He looked around for Margo until he realized he was clutching her wrist with his right hand. Very firmly. Most likely painfully. All three girls were staring at him terrified, almost as if he were a monster. Margo seemed to be scared out of her wits, it was the first time she had such an expression on.

"-gone mad? What is wrong with you? Gru!"

He finally regained his sanity, and immediately let go of Margo, who retreated immediately. Her face recollected was the reflection of being hurt. Mentally hurt.

For a moment the room fell silent.

"What happened een here?" He finally asked – his voice was unbelievably weak, he noticed.

Ediths' eye almost fell out, and Margo ran out of the room – wiping her face with a sleeve while doing so. She didn't go to her room though, but merely stood out, probably shook up, yet wanting to know what in the world was going on. Agnes didn't move at all.

"What happ- What happened?"Edith repeated in shock. Funny enough, she decided to push this all the way, her demanding mind roaring for the knowledge of what just happened.

"What do you mean "what happened"?" she finally asked back, somewhat angry.

"Did…" Gru felt sick with the feeling that suddenly overwhelmed him.

"Did I do dis?" his voice broke as he replied with the question.

Edith tried to take on a rational attitude, which for her wasn't easy. Either he was trying to make a really lame excuse for what he did, or something weird was going on. She took a deep breath, and replied:

"Yes… well… who else? Are we the ones with the laser guns?" She pointed towards the minions, who were busy cleaning up the remains of the paper.

"You… you don't remember anything? Is that what you're trying to say?" Edith argued. Gru soon realized Edith wasn't going to be easy to convince what he just went trough. But then even more terrifying realization came into his head. It happened again. A blackout, the memory loss, whatever it was, it was definitely the same thing with the night yesterday.

"Edith, you have to trust me, I… I was dere, you were playing and den I just… passed out or something... I don't know!" he grabbed his head in despair, trying to remember the things he did.

Luckily for him, Edith recalled what happened, just before his little rampage here. His heavy breathing, loss of consciousness… something was very off, and she couldn't help herself but to trust her father. Be it she was a kid, the fact she loved their new dad, or the bad feeling she had, Edith trusted him. She HAD to trust him.

"It was horrible."

Gru looked at her.

"You simply fell down, and we were so worried… Then you regained your consciousness, and you were so angry! You burned it" she glanced at the ashes, "you told us you don't need us, we should go away…" she sniffed.

"And when Margo tried to argue with you, you just grabbed her… we were so scared you were going to do something… and then you ask "what happened"?" Edith finally broke into tears. Seeing his little girl, the one so strong, and always so collected crying because of him made Gru's heart hurt. He crouched and tried to hold her, unsure if she'll allow him. Contrary to what he thought she'll do, she threw herself around his neck, sobbing into his gray jumper. Across her shoulder, he saw Agnes peeking out from her hiding spot. Agnes hesitated then came closer and merely asked.

"Daddy?" as if she was checking if her real father was there.

Gru shook on the word "daddy" he heard for the first time from his beloved daughter. The joy of hearing it mixed with the sorrow he felt, and he realized he wasn't going to be collected for much longer.

"Eet ees me, keeten."

In the next moment, he felt another four pairs of arms hugging him – both Agnes and Margo came up to him, and gave him a hug, and Dave and Jon didn't seem to want to be left out either. Gru quietly allowed his eyes to get teary a bit, but no further than that. After all, as a dad, he had to be support for his girls. Even in the times he was the one in need of support the most.


	7. Stupid Unicorn

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent in silent talk. Gru humbly confessed his daughters, and a pair of his minions, since he kind of owed them that, what was wrong with him – well, at least what he knew. As he was telling them everything that happened and that something is wrong with him, older Margo and Edith started to come to a few conclusions. For one, their dad maybe wasn't healthy at the moment, but whatever happened, it wasn't ordinary not it happened accidentally. They immediately smelled something fishy going on.

Agnes on the other hand, small as she was, quickly came to a conclusion that in the end seemed acceptable, and was accepted as a state Gru came into.

"So there is an evil man inside of daddy?" she asked as Gru finished his story.

Still unused to her use of word "daddy", Gru first only stared at her, allowing himself to feel a note of pride and joy only for a moment of time. Right now he needed all the warm feelings he could get.

"I guess you could say so…" he replied, a bit confused and nervous about everything. He was so glad that they all accepted his state so calmly.

Edith and Margo exchanged looks, both recognizing the suspicious glance in other eyes.

"So Dr. Nefario found nothing wrong with you? How could that be?"

Margo asked herself – if she was asked, there was nothing wrong in their fathers head. Those things don't come so suddenly… or did they? On the other hand, they knew well Gru never had serious problems with his health. At least not anything their new grandma mentioned. She would tell them about Grus' childhood all day long sometimes, since they liked listening about him. She mentioned "useless" and "silly" many times, but never "sick" or "mad".

"I don't know… I just don't know what to do now." He hated admitting that even he, their father who always had a solution to everything now didn't know what to do. Now when it came to himself.

"I have an idea!" Edith suddenly sprang up happily, a smile on her face. Everyone looked at her surprised, Gru and Agnes full of expectations and Margo with no expectations at all.

"Maybe… just maybe… we should take, the uh… _Other Gru_", She hesitated a bit with that nickname  
"To Dr. Nefario for examination!"

Gru and Margo both blinked in surprise. It was actually quite logical of a suggestion since Gru, and the newly nicknamed Other Gru were completely different in personality. Something had to come up different.

"That is brilliant idea, keeten!" Gru euphorically exclaimed, clutching his fists. Margo thought about it as she always would do about everything, and nodded in approval.

"But there are a few problems…" she pointed out, getting once more the attention of her father and sisters.

"Firstly, the Other Gru seems to come out of nowhere, whenever he feels like it…"

_Or can. _She thought to herself.

"… so we can not really know when he'll come. We would have to be prepared all the time. Also, how can we make Gru to even come to examinations? He's way too…"

She lost herself there, knowing tons of words she could use to describe just how awful the Other Gru is – on the other hand, as she glanced at Gru, she knew it would probably hurt him. Not to mention she was also kind of scared to say something like that in front of a man who almost did something horrible to her, even though it wasn't the Gru she knew.

"Stubborn" she choose the not so accurate word "to do that. He'll probably want everything to go his way."

Edith though, already seemed to have everything planned out in her head, as she gave her a vicious smile.

"Then everything _will_ go his way." She darkly concluded.

It was already late at night when Edith finished carrying out her plan – it wasn't that complicated, yet she had many questions to answer, and plan holes to fill.

"So what do you think?" she asked, looking around joyfully.

Gru for the first time that evening genuinely smiled.

"I think you will make dee greatest young villain ever." He patted her on the head.

Edith seemed unusually flattered by what he said, as she blushed a bit, and stared at the floor.

"What do you mean "will" make – Edith is not going to be a villain." Margo chuckled on the idea, but in other moment, stared at her sister awkwardly.

"You're not, are you?"

Edith smiled like a cat, and almost sang out:  
"Who know, who knows~"

"Edith, what have you turned in?"

Margo and Edith argued as they finally started going toward their rooms – they were tired, and had a plan to carry out. The minions, who until then were mostly merely listening to the plan, followed them out, can't waiting to get into their beds.

"I'll come upstairs een a minute!" Gru yelled after them, only to get some babbling about "bright future" coming from Margo. He looked down at Agnes. She seemed to be happy and excited.

"The bad man will go away as soon as I show him my unicorn. He doesn't like unicorns you know."

"What do you mean by dat?" Gru asked confused.

"Well, when I tried showing him the one you won me at the Super Silly Fun Land, he wanted to blast it with your laser gun."

Gru suddenly got a flash back of how he did the same thing to the unicorn she first had.

"Luckily he shot the toilet paper house because Edith saved the unicorn. And then, I held my breath, and he said"

Here she started imitating, or at least that was how it looked – she frowned, and tried saying in rough tone:

„I never want to see you or your stupid unicorn again, you stupid brat!"

Her face regained her usual sweetness, but there was some hurt remaining. Agnes would never know though how awful and terrified Gru felt at that moment.

„I said dat?"

„No~" Agnes confused him once again.

„The bad man said it. You would never call my unicorn stupid. You love him right?" she tried to confirm.

Gru sighed as he picked her and her fluffy unicorn up.

„I do, but I love you eeven more." He gave her a hearty hug.

„Now let's go up. Your sisters are waiting, and eet's late already." He silently left the room and turned the lights off. Coming up he noticed Margo and Edith were sleeping already. He laughed when he realized Agnes fell asleep on his shoulder. After he tucked them all in, and gave them a usual good night kiss, Gru once more stared at his three daughters, praying that Ediths' plan would work.


	8. Again

Edith was sure that her plan wouldn't be put into action until tomorrow afternoon -well, that was how she presumed it would be in her head. However, the Other Gru seemed to want to come out more often as the times passed.

That is why the girls were unpleasantly surprised when they woke up next morning only to find Gru in his headquarters trying to train a bunch of minions into using some dangerous fire weapons. Obviously, it was the Other Gru trying to do that, as minions were both confused and scared, and Gru seemed furious with them.

"We have to act fast." Edith mumbled as they returned to their room to dress themselves. Three sisters seemed a bit nervous that their plan needed to be put in action so soon.

"He might return to normal soon, and not to mention what he might do in this state if we let him. Agnes, go to Dr. Nefario and inform him about what happened. He better be ready."

Agnes rushed off downstairs.

"OK Margo, it's up to you now."

Margo desperately wanted to protest, but being the eldest sister, she wasn't going to complain. Her part of plan was simple in theory – to talk to the Other Gru, and make him think they're on his side. After that, distract him, bind him, and extract his blood. And after that, run as Hell, or knock him unconscious.

That plan, although sounded simple, was pretty complicated when girls thought of what Gru could be like when fired up – he had not only his weapons, but also showed obvious great physical skills when in need to use them.

"Gru wouldn't be happy if someone would try to bind him. Especially while in such a state." Dr. Nefario informed them once they gathered in laboratory. The four of them were peeking behind one door into the main hall, where Gru was continuing his brutal "training".

Minions seemed to have been informed as well about the plan, as they tried to obey Gru as best as they could instead of showing fear or hesitation.

"No, no, no and NO! What have I said? You," he paused, violently grabbing a rocket launcher from hand of one of the minions,  
"pull eet up, " he placed it on his shoulder "aim," he aimed for one big screen on the opposite far wall, "press red den blue button" he pressed and the launcher started making buzzing noises, "and you shoot!"

In the next moment, a powerful blast turned the whole screen into a bunch of ashes and rust. Many minions covered their ears or fell on the floor in fear.

"Oh God…" Margo commented to herself. She was preparing herself to face the Other Gru again – she didn't tell anyone anything, but she was never so scared of a person in her life. Even if that personality lied in the body of her father. But she decided that she was the one to do it, even though Nefario logically offered to do the task that seemed to be somewhat of a problem to her.

"You can do it, sis." Edith tried supporting her, though she also sounded scared. Agnes seemed to be cautious yet optimistic. Nefario looked genuinely worried.

Margo finally approached the Other Gru from the back, as he was busy yelling at Jon, who seemed scared just as Margo was last night.

"E-excuse me." She started, her voice getting thin as she did.

The Other Gru slowly turned around, almost as if he wished to look as terrifying as he did at that moment. Margo swallowed.

"What ees eet you little brat? Can't you see I'm busy?"

Margo was shaking as she desperately tried to regain her cool.

"I-I only wanted to inform you th-that…" she gulped, her the look in her eyes barely being a match to his cold, raw stare.

"Dr. Nefario wished to talk to You… Sir." She added carefully in the end. It seemed that the start of a plan worked a bit – seeing he just got some respect he thought he deserved, Grus' eyes weren't frowning that much anymore.

"Oh?" he grunted.

"Y-yes, he wanted me to inform you he just finished the newest prototype of the Freeze ray. " Margos' voice gained on security.

"And has a new, secret weapon to show you. If you would, please follow me…" Margo tried. Acting all servant-ish towards her own father was weird, but she had to do it right for the sake of a plan. And it seemed that it worked with Other Grus' huge ego.

"Looks like you've finally found your place, eh, brat?" Gru pompously bragged as he instantly forgot about his minions, and headed towards Nefarios' laboratory. He opened the laboratory door, only to find it empty. He frowned, looking around.

"Hey, brat! Where exactly is NefaaAOOOW!"

Gru let out a short painful shriek. Edith, who was hidden exactly above the door frame, and strapped with some safety belts, sprayed a large quantity of something that looked, and felt, like pepper spray.

"What the—" he didn't have much time to react, and he felt a string kick behind his knees that forced him to land into a chair of some sort – only that this chair automatically gagged him. Turned out Nefario was the one who pushed him into it.

"Nefario, you traitor! I will personally take care of you once I'm out of this thing!" Other Gru was screaming in rage. He continued his rant, and the longer he was in it, the more irritated he seemed to be. There was a serious concern he might even break it. In fact, his tried to break free already seemed to be working.

Minions gathered around him, some confused about if they should help him, but most of them staring at Nefario with expectations.

"What are you staring at, Flipsies? Get me out of here!"

The few that wanted to help him were quickly insulted to be called "flipsies".

"Margo! Get me a syringe!" Nefario called for her. She soon came to him with an unused syringe, which he quickly opened.

"Err, girls you might want to turn around…"

"What? Why?"

"I'm pretty sure you don't want to see your fathers, um, behind."

There was no need to say that twice – the girls disappeared as fast as they came.

"What? Hey, what are you doing with dat? Wait, wait, wait, wait! –OW!"

"Do you think he's gone?" Agnes asked quietly.

"I don't know… the noise stopped about 5 minutes ago. Maybe we should check out." Margo pointed out.

"Oh, GOD, fine, I'll go." Before the other two could say anything, Edith came out from underneath the bed – they may have had some grown up traits, but as children running away from the source of fear, the bed was the first thing that came into their minds. Besides, considering Nefario joined them, it must've been a fine hiding spot.

Edith made her way into the hall, and looked down the stairs.

"It's OK!" they heard her voice saying. There was something off with her tone though.

As all of them came downstairs, they could see why – in attempt to find the culprits, Gru destroyed some of the furniture and walls.

"Dear Lord… he is not taking this from my pay check." Nefario mumbled.

"GRU!" Ediths' voice made them all look in her direction, then the direction she was looking at. Gru was lying in the living room, right under the windows sill.

"Careful Edith, he might not have returned yet!" Nefario exclaimed, but Edith didn't listen to him. She, Margo and Agnes rushed over towards him, in an attempt to awake him.

"Daddy, wake up!" Agnes cried. Her lip quivered as she stared at his lifeless form. But just as Maro was about to call for him, he let out a quiet groan, and moved his limbs.

"Gru!" the three of them gasped as he slowly sat up, and threw themselves into his lap. He weakly held them then looked around the destroyed house.

"Gru? Are you OK my friend?" Nefario asked, with a relieved smile on his face.

Gru got up. The painful expression on his face described just how awful he felt… again.

"I'm sorry… "He quietly said, resembling a too big child who just broke a vase. He was going to continue, but Nefario jumped in:  
"Oh, shush! You're fine for now, and that's all that matters. And of course…" he pulled a syringe filled with a red liquid out of his coat.

"The goal is fulfilled." He grinned.

"I hope all your work wasn't een vain." He faced them all. Realizing he was preparing to thank them, Nefario once again interrupted him – he had news to tell him anway.

"Well, actually, I already have the results."

"What?" Margo interrupted.

"Just when did you have time to test it?"

"Down in the lab, I asked minions to help him stay in the chair. They did a damn good job for ten minutes, and it was exactly the time I needed. Anyway…"

Gru, Margo, Edith and Agnes were staring at him.

"There is a significant change in your genes whenever the Other Gru comes out. You could say that there is something in your blood that simply makes your worst traits come out, only stronger. Basically, I would say it's the game of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde…" Nefario himself seemed a bit confused by that theory.

"Whatever it is, it is something new, I've never seen anything like it…"

Gru rubbed his temples. He was so eager to get some info about all of this, but now that he did, he only felt more confused and tired.

"Gru, why don't you go upstairs and have some rest, you look awful… we can discuss this in the evening."

"I guess I could use some sleep… "he mumbled. The girls followed him to his room door, where they all started comforting him.

"Don't worry Gru, we'll get you through this." Margo said confidently.

"And I'll discover who did it and kick their—"

"Sleep nicely daddy." Agnes interrupted her, and gave Gru a small peck on his nose.

He smiled.

"Thank you gurlz… Once dis is over, I'll make it all up to you, I promise." With those words, he entered his room, and flopped on the nearby chair. He felt exhausted, which was weird considering it was only 11:30. But apart from that, he still carried that burden… he was so sorry, felt guilty confused, and in a way, felt like someone ran him into a corner, with no options of escape.

"_Don't worry Gru, we'll get you through this." _

"_And I'll discover who did it and …"_

Suddenly, Gru was wide awake. Edith said it so clearly… someone had their fingers in this, and they all agreed about it… but he never had time to think about it. Almost as if Ediths' words awakened and refreshed him, Gru slowly started to go back in time in his mind… the robberies… the morning after…

"The convention." He spoke out loud, not even realizing it. He sprang from the chair wide awake… and very angry.


	9. Disappear

By two in the afternoon, Gru was in his flying ship, armed with various arsenal of weapons, including his beloved freeze ray, and accompanied by two minions – who, seeing the expression on his face decided to bother him as less as possible. Their boss seemed epically mad.

Oh, Gru wasn't mad. He was furious. He knew that whatever was wrong with him, whatever brought him into this state was in the drink they all had on the convention. He remembered the emotionless face of the boy as he poured him a glass of weird looking, yet tasty drink… was he the only one going through that? Most likely. Now that he thought of it, it was utterly weird that the Chairman let him leave his job like it was a natural thing to do.

However, he didn't inform anyone about his plan – at least not directly. He left a note on Nefario's desk, telling him he's headed to Chairman's home, being sure he is the culprit, and confidently wrote he'll be back by the time for dinner.

Luckily, being one of the greatest villains ever born, Gru and only four other villains were privileged with knowledge of Chairman's living place. It was on a small exotic island, located somewhere in southern part of Pacific.

As the island finally came in sight, Gru also noticed on a highest cliff a pretty large villa, probably visible from any corner of the island. He himself preferred secluded surroundings, but the villa was at least a fine reflection of Chairmans ego.

His landed his ship on a landing platform on the roof, not really caring about the fact he was probably noticed as an unwelcomed visitor. Right now, the only thing he wanted to do is demand a solution to this mess, be it the hard way or easy way.

Gru expected an arsenal of robotic weapons or a small army of guards "welcoming" him as he got off the ship – but to his surprise no one was there. Some would be relaxed, but he only knew that was trouble. If Chairman didn't need anyone to take care of him, he must've had an ace or two up his sleeve.

"Jon! Tod! Take care of de ship!" he informed them both. The minions came out, quickly taking place by his side and babbling something.

"What? What are you theenking, it is not like I'm a neewbie! I can do dis by myself. You just guard de ship." The minions looked genuinely worried – Gru, furious, was oblivious to the danger ahead of him, while they, although not the brightest little beings ever, knew just how bad this mission might end.

"So he finally came, eh?" the Chairman's smooth voice echoed a wide office, filled with wooden, old fashioned furniture, yet decorated with exotic masks, plants and pictures of various beaches and animals.

"Oh, boy!" he called. Immediately, a small, barely visible door opened. The boy was standing there, plain as always. He said nothing.

"Please be kind, and escort Mr. Gru to my office. He seems to be looking for me." He chuckled.

"Oh but… Don't make it too easy for him. I still have some business here. Keep him occupied or about five minutes, will you?"

The boy didn't react. He merely walked to the door, and left the office, leaving the rather excited chairman alone with his thoughts.

"Just as planned~" Chairman almost sang those words to himself, as he self-satisfyingly opened a wooden cabinet of glass doors, and pulled out a small glass bottle. It was filled with poisonously-looking green liquid.

The halls of the building were nothing Gru expected it to be from the outside. They were made of steel, no colors except for various tones of gray. The doors seemed to open with a card, however most of them didn't require one. The door would usually lead to fine decorated living room or libraries and guest rooms. Not many doors were closed. But that was non of his business now. He had to find the Chairmans' office, which was most likely in a more special place – he will without a doubt be there.

Soon, Gru encountered an intersection with three ways – left, right or straight. Just as he was wondering where should he head, he heard footsteps from the left. With movement of a spy, he hid behind a wall, and aimed with his laser gun. The red dot of a gun was pointing straight to the forehead of a boy.

Seeing no threat, only a potential way to get to the Chairman, Gru lowered his gun.

"Hey, I remember you." He tried talking to him. Silent as always the boy just made a few steps closer, then stopped.

"You never talk eh?" Gru quickly concluded. Not getting an answer, he continued.

"I want to see the Chairman. Take me to hees office." He demanded, not expecting a small, weak looking boy to merely shake his head in negative response.

Gru lifted his eyebrow. With a sardonic sigh, he once again pulled his laser gun up, and threateningly pointed it towards him.

"Now, will you take me dere?"

The poker face of boys was a bit too much for Gru. He finally concluded that while this boy was no threat, he was of no help either. Why bother finishing him off anyway, it's not like he would do anything.

Without saying anything Gru was about the pass right next to him, when he felt a surprisingly firm clutch on his wrist. He looked behind his right shoulder – the boy didn't seem too keen on letting him go.

"You're asking for trouble, shrimp?"

No reaction. At least not right away. Then the boy looked straight into his eyes. Gru felt the grip on his wrist getting painfully strong.

"Why you leettle…!" Gru pointed the laser gun towards the boy.

"Ah, Mr. Gru! You're finally here." The Chairman amusingly said when Gru suddenly burst into his office. He seemed to be heavily injured, but trying his best to conceal it – he had a hard time staying straight up, and while his right hand was aiming with a laser gun directly into Chairman, his left arm seemed to be somewhat limp. Chairman however, was sitting in a black velvet chair, and smiling. In one of his hands was a wine glass filled with green drink.

"You didn't happen to destroy my little creation, now did you?" Chairman asked cockily, knowing the answer.

"He's a tough one alrite… but won't be for de next few days." Gru answered equally proud. The bliss he felt passing the obstacle was now exchanged with worry, as Chairman seemed very relaxed.

"Oh, he'll be fine in next few hours; I can assure you of that Mr. Gru..."

Deciding to ignore the question that popped into his head, Gru gained some determination as he got closer to him and continued:

"I don't know what you've done to me, but I demand eet fixed. NOW." He pulled the hammer of a gun. A quiet buzzing sound informed them laser gun was fully ready to use.

"Ah Mr. Gru, didn't you say you give up villainy? What was that about the robberies a couple of nights ago… Not far from your neighbor, eh?"

"What have you done to me?" Gru yelled, raising his laser gun, and releasing a powerful shot into the book case left of him, never taking his eyes off of Chairman. The bookcase along with a wide circle of carpet, couch and an old clock turned into the ashes.

"Now, now, there is no need for that." The Chairman argued a small smile still on his face, but with slightly worried reaction. Realizing he's been pushing it too much, he got up, walking over to his window to look out.

"The 'boy' really is my small masterpiece. Not only he was almost able to defeat you Mr. Gru... he even successfully poisoned your drink. He's more than I ever thought he would be."

Feeling his heart bumping with excitement, Gru decided to give the Chairman the satisfaction of prolonging his answer. Now that he was about to hear the answer, he could be patient for a minute or two.

"What you actually drank wasn't a poison, no. They last so short. Besides, the sole word of poison reminds me of dying. I would never want a great villainy mind such as yours to die."

"No, what I made was serum. A serum so strong it was able to stay in your veins long enough to start changing you. The serum itself has left your body, and stopped working long ago, but it was in there long enough to change your genes… and make them keep changing even when it stops working. Yes, Mr. Gru," Chairman continued as Gru stared in terror, baffled by what he was hearing,

"Right now as we speak, your genes evolve and change. Soon, there will be nothing more but the other you, the one we all wished to see – the one I wished to see. There is just no way you can get away so easily after you snatched away the title of the number one villain Mr. Gru! What were you thinking?"

His voice was getting more and more joyful as he was asking a question he knew he wasn't going to get an answer to.

"Your place in the world had already been decided. You will never, ever be a father, not to mention a good one, to those girls."

That moment, Gru felt like one big untold truth has just been discovered. The hand that was holding the gun slightly lowered. For just a moment, he saw Margo, Edith and Agnes back when he first met them and their first day together. He remembered Margo's words at the end of that day…

_You will never be my dad._

For a moment there, Chairman looked pretty satisfied with himself, but Gru quickly recollected himself, and demanded again, though this time his voice wasn't as confident as before:

"I need de cure."

"Now, that is the best part Gru." Gru noticed he finally stopped addressing him as "Mister".  
"Didn't I tell you how I hate poisons? Not just because they don't last as long, but they also have an antidote. Serums, well at least ones I made, are so much more convenient."

Gru's hand shook.

"You better not be trying to tell me—"

"Oh that is _exactly_ what I'm saying Gru. There is no cure. No matter what you do, in about next day or so, you will completely disappear."


	10. Dial V for Water Weaponry

Chapter 10 – Dial V for water weaponry

(AN: I am aware of the somewhat grammar nonsensical title. It is supposed to be so. :P T

BTW; SORRY. This chapter was written long ago, yet I forgot to put it up here. So enjoy. :D Next chapter on Xmas. Merry Christmas guys. Thanks for reading.)

The seconds passed like hours, prolonged, painful, stabbing Grus heart like needles. His hand started falling lifelessly down his body. The whole world seemed to have slowed down. He could see so many images, almost as if her were on verge of death. His mother telling him she is proud of him, Nefario showing him his newest invention , both of them getting so excited of it, his faithful minions playing in secret headquarter, and him and his daughters joining them…

His daughters. Huh, for the first time that word actually formed in his mind. They were always the girls, weren't they? He never really realized he had daughters… he had girls, but daughters… the full burden of that word pressed his heart, making his gun fall from the weakened grip of his fingers. He no longer saw anything. Or rather, he saw, but he didn't look. No matter how much he didn't want to, couldn't and did not believe the words he just heard, he still knew they were true. An inevitable truth. Even if he now was about to go back to the , would it make sense?

"_Oh boy, you came back. You still didn't finish what you started, mind doing it right now? Our conversation is over."_

Hardly even registering those words, Gru barely had the time to turn around, exhausted, and still in shock. His blue deep eyes merely met the empty cold brownness of the boys' before he collapsed with a strong pain in his head, not seeing nor hearing anymore.

"I'm going alone, and that is final."

"Nefario, what can you possibly do alone!"

"And what can you three do that I can't? You're still little girls for Pete's Sake! It is too dangerous!"

"We'll prepare ourselves! This is about Gru Nefario, you have to let us…! We'll go this or that way!"

The whole headquarters were full awake, minions either helping Nefario or listening to conversation, or rather a fight, he had with girls. Nefario sighed as he kept preparing whatever he might need on his journey – it was 10 pm, and although girls insisted that Gru will be back by the time for dinner, with some delay maybe, Nefario had it – Gru would usually stick to what he said. If he was in trouble, Nefario would definitely come in handy – if it was a false alarm, better. But for now, he had to go. He was no physically prepared, but he had the set of inventions alright. The problem was, Margo, Edith and Agnes insisted on one more thing – coming with him.

"I'm sorry but I just cannot let you – the person Gru went to meet is very dangerous, probably even more dangerous than your father's evil alter ego. Besides," he turned around to face them.

"Think about it. How could I possibly help you if you get in trouble? I am fit nor for running nor fighting anymore. I'm old," he added in the end, somewhat embarrassed, almost as if a nasty secret just came out into the sight.

"My plan is slow and safe, and is relying on brains, not brawl. That is what I'm good at. I know what you intended though – to simply go straight into the lion's den and "kick his ass", eh?"

"Wha—how did you find out what my plan was?" Edith suddenly blurted out, her jaw dropping.

"I JUST DID." Nefario triumphally replied, a naughty smirk on his face celebrating his small victory. Edith face palmed, Margo was on verge of quitting, but then Agnes said something.

"If you're old, then we just need someone young who we can ask for help, right?"

All three stared at her, but Nefario quickly answered, now somewhat frustrated with young ones odd suggestions:  
"It is not that simply, Agnes-"

"ACTUALLY…" Margo and Edith suddenly butted in at the same time, probably with same idea in their mind, and staring at Agnes as if she were an angel. Agnes just giggles happily though, being glad she was of help.

"It may be simpler than you think." Margo breathed out, then all three of them ran off.

"Please – give us one hour!" Margo pleaded before they disappeared in the elevator, and before Nefario could refuse.

"Crazy kids." He chuckled to himself, and got back to packing.

"Hurry up! We'll be late for the bus, and we can't get there as fast on foot!" Margo insisted, her carrying Agnes on her back, since she wasn't as fast as the two, and Edith running next to her.

In distance, they could see the bus just stopped, but not many people were getting off of it, and only two persons were getting on.

"I'll race you to the bus station." Edith challenged, merely for the purpose of getting there faster. It seemed to have worked, because Margo suddenly sped up, and Edith decided not to lose.

"**FIRST.**" Edith groaned like a wounded rhino as she stopped the bus door from closing by almost inhuman strength – well, inhuman for one small girl as she was.

Her loud groan scared and upset the young, pimpled bus driver, who didn't saw any problem in three little kids boarding the bus at this hour with no parents with them. He probably couldn't care less, which in this case was rather welcoming.

Being the only one who had to pay for the bus ticket due to her years, they had enough of change to give the driver. After that, three sisters flopped onto the last long seat to take a rest from the race.

"Hehe, I beat ya to it." Edith smirked as she tried to catch some more air, which in stale bus wasn't easy.

"I was the one carrying Agnes, if you recall." Margo replied, yet a bit offended by losing. Edith didn't reply, and they spent the rest of the drive in silence – almost. Somewhere near the stop, an older teen naively tried to rob them of the money they didn't have. All he did get was a strong kick in his ankle from Edith, which made him sob quietly for the rest of the trip.

When they finally got off, they walked a bit more to reach a huge white wall. A huge white door was the only entrance. White door decorated white a large yellow letter "V".

"Oh, Cookie Boy~" Edith joyfully sang into the intercom, shaking a small box of cookies she had in her jacket in front of a camera. The silence filed the air, and then… the door opened.

"If you hadn't brought some cookies here, I wouldn't let you in, just so you know."

Dressed in the most royal yet plastic looking golden colored pajama with 3D pattern of cookies, with still messy hair from sleeping, and glasses on his nose, Vector was sitting on his huge couch, munching on delicious marmalade cookies he got as a bribe like a king of a castle – which he actually was.

Margo and Edith humbly stood in front of him, preparing to ask him for a favor of century, while Agnes was more relaxed, trying to snatch some of Vectors cookie. He seemed to have enjoyed that little game.

"So what are you three buggers doing here? I was just having a most enjoyable dream." Vector yawned, and Agnes took the moment to steal a cookie happily.

"Actually, Vector, we have a favor to ask of you. Much more, in fact, we need help." Edith started carefully. Although Vector might've kidnapped them once, and treated them not so kindly, the girls didn't feel any kind of hatred or fear towards him. Especially not since there would be Hell to pay if he did anything to them. In fact, both Agnes and Edith found him to be a bit silly. Margo was the only one who seemed to have paid any attention to the possible traps.

Vector suddenly couldn't to more awake. He jumped up on his feet, and announced, somewhat triumphally.

"So, brats of Mr. "I-am-number-one-so-I-quit-now" need a favor of mine? Wow, I can't help thinking should I L.O.L. or face-palm. You really have some nerves, kiddo." He somehow managed to look almighty in his weird pajamas.

Not really understanding the Internet language of his, they waited for his further reaction. Vector finally, young and curious as he was, asked:

"So what is it anyway that you guys need?"

Margo took a deep breath.

"Vector, Gru is in trouble. We need you to help us get into the hideout of _Mr. Chairman_" Margo remembered what Nefario told her

"and rescue him. We need you to come with us."


	11. A New Hope

Chapter 11 – A new Hope

**Author's Note: Hello guys. I'm very sorry if there are any of you actually WAITING for this, but holidays finally begun. This means I might actually write a chapter or two more. **

**Anyways, here it is, a brand new chapter with somewhat hurried ending, but oh well. :| I wish you all a very merry Christmas indeed, and even merrier New Year, and all the best in it to come. **

**K.**

There was nothing but a moment of grave silence until Vector started laughing hysterically, at the same times being obviously shocked that Gru succeeded in angering the Chairman.

"Wha- Wha- Gru! Got owned! By Chairman!" he gasped staring at them fully unaware of how silly he looked just then, his eyes almost popping out, reddened face and high pitched voice.

"That is awesome. That is just…" he threw his head back a bit, which would probably look more effective if he had long hair.

"Brilliant." He finished, looking into the white empty wall as if it were granting all of his dreams and hopes.

"Vector…" Margo began, but young villain merely shut her up with a wave of his thin hand.

"Before you say anything else, or ask for help, you have to tell me every detail of that wonderful story. I want to have a thing or two to tell my grandsons one day." He laughed.

Having no other choice, Margo told Vector as fast as she could – and detailed, by his demand – about the events. In the meantime, Edith used to phone to call Nefario and tell him they will be late but will come back with help, and Agnes was poking the glass of a huge aquarium, trying to attract the attention of a shark inside. It seemed to have liked her cute little face. Well, who wouldn't?

"And now, we had no other choice but to contact you." Margo pleaded with her eyes. Edith and Agnes joined her, making Vector feel slightly uncomfortable beneath all those cute looks.

"Ha! No way will you talk me into such things. I have no reason to help you whatsoever."

"Please!" Margos' eyes started filling up with tears. She was about to give up when she accidentally called out for help one last time, not knowing it was going to change everything.

"Help us Vector! You're our only hope!"

The nerd switch turned on, and Vector suddenly felt a shiver he would get every time he would hear those words. Was it a sign? Should he help them? He looked closely into Margo. The look he gave her seemed to confuse her.

". . . I . . . am you only hope?"

Margo blinked, more confused than ever.

"Well… yes." She replied, now not knowing whether she even should reply, how much she was confused. Edith though seemed to know what was going on, as she was chuckling as crazy.

"In that case…" Vector continued, fully affected by his dear quotation,

"I might consider helping you out with a thing or two. After all, who am I to defy the forc- I mean fate?"

"Really! Wow, Vector, you're the best!" Margo couldn't help but throw herself into his lap to hug him, followed by Agnes – Edith was too busy trying hard not to laugh out loud.

"OK, OK, that's enough!" Vector laughed cutely, all of a sudden very touched because of the nerdy impact Margo had on him. For a moment there, hugging and laughing, someone might've thought they were a family.

"But I do not see a reason to help out, I really don't." although now friendly, he was still rather not convinced – he had to have at least a spark of motivation, anything, to gain his reputation, or at least get his revenge, anything…

"Well, wouldn't it be rather humiliating if you, the only guy who ever got into his way and hit him where it hurts the most, actually saved him?" Edith suddenly said, somewhat absent mindedly.

Vector froze in spot. They could almost hear wheels turning inside of his head.

"I mean just think about it" she continued "his own umm… daughters, asking his enemy to save you… I mean, if I were him, I'd be so~ ashamed…"

Vector seemed very interested in that scenario, as a big smile decorated his face.

"Yes, yes, that would really be perfect… I would embarrass him to no end… how didn't I think of such a brilliant plan myself? Put someone I trouble, then get them out of it, heh." He started mumbling, talking more to himself for a sec. Then he turned around and announced, with a posture of a God.

"There is just one more thing I want."

Silence ruled for a couple of seconds as the small trio impatiently waited for his demand.

"You will be delivering me the coco-nutties for next two months, every morning!"

"It's a deal!"

"How about three months?"

"And~ you just fell down to one month."

"Dang, I knew I should've left it on two."

"What the- what is that kid doing here?" Nefario roared; his voice stronger than silent hovering of Vectors flying machine. Vector made his way down from the machine, looking at Gru's house with a mocking smile.

"This isn't what you call a base of a super villain! It looks like it came out of a horror movie or somethin'!" He laughed, acting high and mighty – just the way he felt at that moment. Margo rolled her eyes, and addressed Nefario:  
"He agreed to help us."

Nefario seemed suspicious. A lot.

"You really think that boy has some good intentions about saving Gru?" he asked all three of them, somewhat annoyed. However, Vector swiftly ironed the problem out.

"Don't worry, old man, Gru will get to be saved like he was saved never before – in fact he'll be saved in such a way, he'll die – of embarrassment!" he giggled joyfully. It took a moment or two for Nefario to quickly realize what he was talking about.

"You sure have some motives." He mumbled as he started walking back into the house, to get everything he needed.

"Did I mention I get the coco-nutties too?" Vector added as he skipped inside as well to help him, oddly enough, leaving the girls on the street. It gave them some time to look at each other, now preparing to face the reality – they were going to do something not so easy. Even dangerous.

"We're going to rescue daddy!" Agnes pouted, a spark of anger and proud in her eyes. With those words she was going to run into the house, when she bumped into Nefario who seemed to go to get them.

"And what are you waiting for? Come down!"

"Huh? Where? We've been waiting for you and Vector to prepare!"

"Ah, for Pete's sake, don't tell me you thought I was going to let you go with us with no equipment? I have some things or ya all." A small satisfied smile decorated his face.

"REALLY? FOR US!" Edith didn't wait, but ran into the house to check those out.

"Come on know, we haven't got all day. By now, your father could be seriously injured."

"Both girls ran inside, Margo in process starting to sweat. How was Gru? What happened to him? Was he even still…

_No, no, I must not think like that! He's probably going to be…_

She knew he wasn't OK. He couldn't be. It was past midnight, and they haven't heard from him once. And as Nefario was equipping them with weapons and suits they might find usable, she couldn't help but feel a shiver, almost as if she knew that the one she was going to save might not be her real father but a monster already.

A pair of light blue eyes slowly opened. Confronting the dark. As he get up after a few tries, Gru felt his body ache. He waited for his eyes to get used to the dark, and as they did, he realized he was in a dungeon of sort. There was no way out, except for a small barred window high up in the wall.

Although tired and beaten up, he started to walk towards it, to anxiously realize his leg was not in a healthy shape – he could barely walk. He did manage though, with somewhat inhuman strength, approach the window, and peek out. A vast amount of water was the only thing he could see, including the starry sky.

Watching into the distance, Gru started to feel a heavy stone in his guts. The emotions overwhelmed him, such as the fear of what was to come, anger of what had happened, worry of girls… and a thirst for revenge.


	12. The Need

Chapter 12 - The Need

"Are we there yet?"

"We took off approximately 3 minutes ago, don't ask me such nonsense!" Nefario blurted out just as their jet black aircraft, similar to the one Gru used to drive, left the land, and started to fly peacefully across the ocean. From afar, it almost appeared as a giant demonic bird, looking for its prey.

"Well how long is it going to take?" Edith kept annoying Nefario. With a sigh, Nefario reminded himself he was talking to a small girl before calmly replying:  
"According to my calculations, we should be there in about 34 minutes. However, it is possible there will be a precaution measure - something might try confusing the whole ship system. In best case, we will lose them from the radar, and will have to search manually."

"What is the worst case?" Margo asked as she overheard the conversation.

"The whole thing is going to CRASH." Vector suddenly threw in, in process looking at the surroundings with a smirk of mockery. While Margo suspected the honesty of his words right away, Nefario couldn't help but react with utmost dissatisfaction.

"It will not! Don't insult me, boy! I've been working on cloning while you were still in diapers!"

"I think your fuse burned out pall, because this thing barely flies!"

"I'm using the top modern nuclear speed accelerator, don't you teach me about speed!"

"That is so last-year, the solar power is in! Not to mention it is eco-friendly."

"I would like to see you fly it during the rain!"

They kept arguing using more complex words that were far from understandable to the girls, so they left them alone - as long as Nefario steered the aircraft right, they had no complaints. Not wanting to interfere, they went into the back of the aircraft where was more peaceful, and sat around a small steel table, silent. In the next five minutes, they were just thinking and glancing at each other, until Agnes concluded they were probably all thinking about the same.

"Do you think daddy is OK?"

"Of course he is, silly!" Edith interfered right away "Do you really think Gru is that easy to defeat? Do you remember how cool he was that day when Vector kidnapped us, and he jumped on all those rockets, and then entered like it was destined for him to do so? It was super special awesome ~!"

"Yeah, and then when he kicked that shark as if he was a goldfish! And then ran up the pyramid at such speed to reach Vectors aircraft! Like in a movie! Heh, we have nothing to worry about" Margo said, now in slightly better mood,

"Gru is in the worse case probably lost somewhere on the island."

They left the agenda at Margo's remark, and the atmosphere seemed to lighten up a bit for them – the two scientists that were still arguing over the best method to power an aircraft kind of lifted up the level of humor as well.

"I'm sick of you young men – these days, you all think you're geniuses!"

"I don't know about you, but I happen to be both young and a genius. Wait, now that I think of it, I DO know about you - you're definitely not young!" he burst out into a silly, hilarious laughter which made girls giggle.

Nefario could but to let the steam come out peacefully out of his ears, as he was definitely not young, and seemed to be a bit cranky when it came to discussion of his age. Edith decided she would take hurting of Nefario's pride as a personal matter.

"Gee, Vector, quite a Moon we have tonight, eh? It's almost full!" it was quite efficient as well – hearing the word "Moon" made Vector dance a short dance of twitches and curl up on the ground. Feeling defeated and listening to their joyful laughter, Vector merely sat down in the passenger's seat, and pouted.

"Aww, c'mon Vector, you're not mad at as now, are you?" Margo said in baby-talk, which only made them all laugh again. Nefario seemed to be a bit hesitant with the laughs – almost as if he was the only one knowing the danger they were travelling to.

"I do hope Gru won't make a fuss once he sees Vector is coming to his rescue, but we do need all the help we can get."

"Of course he will make a fuss, Margo, but that is not really our problem is it? Our problem is that this evening no dinner was served. And once we get Gru out of there, I'm going to tell him that." Edith said confidently, finding the "save Gru" mission to be a piece of cake.

Then Agnes seemed to have found a flaw in something both of them said.

"Why are you still calling daddy 'Gru'?"

Margo confusedly blinked, opened her mouth, but closed them right away, apparently speechless for a moment, and Edith pulled her cap over her eyes a bit, and lowered her head, which made seeing her face expression difficult. Little Agnes probably didn't even realize when she started calling Gru by the title of "daddy", but only now that she started doing so, did she notice the difference in the way her sisters were addressing him.

"Umm, well you see Agnes," Margo started, unsure of what will she actually say.

"We are not really sure. I mean, we… well at least I have never felt any umm… well, let's say 'need' to call him umm, that way. I guess I still have to get used to it all. I mean, him, uh, being our d-dad, and all."

She unhappily noticed she was stuttering and it bugged her. Suddenly a worry came that she will never be able to call Gru her dad, but she shoved that thought aside for now – there were more important things to think about.

Agnes didn't seem to think so though.

"What about Edith?"

Seeing as Edith wasn't answering, but only mumbled something she didn't seem too keen on repeating, Margo realized what was going on, and smiled wickedly, replying instead of her:  
"I can give you that answer too."

"Shut up!" Edith growled quietly, a bit tense.

"What is it, Edith?" Agnes asked innocently, and Edith finally raised her head up to take a deep sigh filled with "you're annoying me" element. A bright pink blush was spread all over her face.

"She is too proud and too shy~" Margo sang out, poking her cheek. Edith pushed her poke away, and just stated madly, yet, still flushed:  
"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Huh?" Agnes confusedly replied, not understanding the reason of either girl. As she watched them poking each other, and playing "am not/are too" game, she could only come to a conclusion those two were plain silly. Sometimes, being a little child, unable to comprehend the complicated, or think so, is probably the best.


	13. Light in the Dark

A dark caged place built of simple blocks of stone – on the inside, at least – barred window, steel door, and a fancy look of sky filled with countless stars. If Gru didn't already know where he was, he might as well have concluded he ended up in one of the rooms in his own house. It was ironic how a cage reminded him of his living space. Probably because he missed his home much at the moment. He never actually realized how much he missed that big old torture factory of his until now.

After numerous futile attempts to break the steel door, squeeze through the window, and break the wall using his shoe, Gru decided he didn't have much of a choice but to wait. This gave him plenty of time to think. That is how Gru started his endless, and a bit too sorrowful wave of memories that led him through many happy moments he lived, the glory he had in his 50 year old life – but most of them connected to the last month of his life, when the girls came, when his mother finally appreciated something he had done in his life, when he became the Number One…

The Number One.

He didn't enjoy that title for a long time, but he did enjoy every second of it lasting. It meant the extra financial support from the bank, more expensive places to rob, more money, more weapons and it all led to his favorite - more villainy!

So how in the world can a villain of that caliber raise three little girls into three successful young women? Why in the world would they have to be recognized as the daughters of the number one villain? They should be able to pick their own life path. If one day his daughters were kidnapped again because of some idiotic villain trying to provoke him, not to mention hurt them, he would never forgive himself. Or what if he was identified as one of the villains, and police got him? They could end up in juvenile prison or in that horrible place of Miss Hattie again. Hell, even he would choose prison over it.

Indeed, when those little girls came into his life, he had to make a choice, but he didn't understand it back then. And now that he finally wanted to do one ultimately good thing for them, it had to go so totally fantastically wrong.

This brought his mind again to the person responsible for all of this.

"I'm going to keel heem." Gru seethed with anger quietly.

"Are you sure that is going to be so easy?"

Gru turned around from his sitting spot as fast as his injured leg allowed him to. He frowned, looking like a beast, and eyed the steel door. It shook quietly then a part of it sank into the floor, leaving only the door frame and strong bars of steel.

"I brought you some company." The Chairman added quietly. Confusion filled Gru's expression, and then his eyes widened when Chairmen lifted small seemingly lifeless body and shook it – it faintly glowed in toxic yellow color.

"You better have not—!"

"Oh don't worry; your yellow little friend is quite alright." The Chairman lazily said as he threw him in the cell through the bars – or at least tried to – the minion's body got stuck between the bars for a second, and then fell onto the floor like a deflated ball. Gru dragged himself towards the minion and pulled it up into his lap. Although he was breathing, he didn't move. He looked like he was beat up with some stick.

"Ted? Can you hear me, Ted?"

The Chairman suddenly looked quite surprised.

"You… give those… names?"

Gru took a moment to glare at the Chairman, who cackled apologetically and raised his hand defensively:  
"My, I am sorry, I didn't know those creatures were that dear to you."

"Dey are not robots, you know. Unlike your lidle sick creation. What ees he anyway? Let me guess - a fighting android? Suitable for someone called "boy" by hees "master". " he replied, with a somewhat cocky smile, like he just said something correct.

Chairmen raised an eyebrow, his briefly happy expression melting away into an odd mix of regret and anger.

"The Boy, my dear Gru, used to be my son."

Gru's smile remained plastered silly on his face, but he was stunned. For a moment, he was convinced he didn't hear that right. With that smile trying to fade away unsuccessfully, he replied with a faint:  
"What?"

The Chairmen put his hands behind his back, leaning in slightly to look Gru better in the eyes. Gru happened to notice in that moment that his eyes looked colder that the steel frame of the door.

"Let me tell you a little story about family – since it is something you seem to have come to appreciate so much lately. Unlike so many of you villains, who avoided having family like a plague, calling it a weakness, I knew I was making myself secure when my only son came to this world. I would have an heir, someone to inherit the family business, someone who, if trained right, could automatically take my place, and make my name even greater after I move on. My whole family would reach the fame in our world other villains could only dream of!" for a moment his eyes glimpsed in nostalgic, energetic way, when he remembered just how enthusiastic he was with his plan at the beginning.

"And he did good, he really did. He was becoming a son I could be proud of, I was proud to call a part of family. I really thought things would go smoothly." his expression sank.  
"Then he grew up more and more, started maturing… and all of a sudden the blasted child had a change of heart!" he gritted his teeth, now staring at Gru once more, and saying every next word clearly and dangerously:  
"He suddenly wanted to quit."

Gru listened carefully, his heart speeding when he realized just how angry the Chairman was when Gru "suddenly quit" as well. Chairman made sure to express just how angry he was by adding:  
"And you know well how much I despise quitters." with a special bitterness to the word "despise".

"He suddenly 'realized' he didn't want to be a villain. He didn't want to use his skills for destruction and chaos. No, my little boy seemed to enjoy, oh you're going to laugh Gru!" The Chairman did laugh a nervous, almost angry laugh.  
"He wanted to be a writer!" he laughed maniacally, with Gru staring at him, head cocked, eyes worried and confused.

"Imagine that Gru! Imagine what would be of me if my student, my own son suddenly disappeared into the world, leaving me to excuse himself with his pathetic excuse of his career path!" he finished the sentence angrily, half yelling.

"No. I couldn't have let that happen. So I did to him exactly what will happen to you tonight Gru. My boy used to be merely a silent, calm child. Now nobody can reach into his head or heart, now he is a person of steel and cool you won't find anywhere. You Gru, used to be the right thing but changed. You became soft and started to care, you started to enjoy such trivial things in life such as play and dinner time with your daughters. But you did see your real self, right? You noticed how your Real You enjoyed the robberies, the excitement of villainy, the adrenaline, have you not? That is the Real You Gru, and once you and It connect into a single personality, you'll realize what I was saying."

"Connect?" Gru suddenly spoke, his voice half broken by a few of shocks he just went through while listening to Chairman's story.

"Yes, Gru. Why you didn't expect me to ruin your own mind now did you? Do not worry; you'll have your memories well kept, as well as sanity. All I'm doing is pulling your real personality out on the surface."

"You're crazy!" Gru argued.  
"I will never be, nor ever was such a monster dat thing was!"

Chairman frowned.  
"Not the words I was hoping to hear from the soon-to-be reinstated Number One Villain."

"You weell not make me do dis." Gru angrily stated.

"I already am." The Chairmen cut off, and eyed him angrily before the steel door once more left Gru trapped in between the dark walls. Gru sighed, looking down at the small unconscious body in his hands. Ted was still glowing faintly, and then it hit Gru. Didn't he bring two of the minions with him?

Jon wasn't found.


	14. Two Brave Lil' Soldiers

Jon and Ted were smart enough to know something was wrong when their master wasn't back on time. They were discussing the possibility of contacting Dr. Nefario, when they were interrupted by noise of large steel door opening. Thinking Gru finally got back, Ted ran up to it, babbling away, only to remain gawking at a much slimmer, taller man. He was gazing down at Ted with cold eyes, in one of his hands a black shiny cane. Jon remained hidden in the shadow of Gru's ship, watching as the tall man approached his minion partner.

"Are you alone?" He heard the man asking. Ted clearly told him someone was with him by the ship, but the man seemed to have misunderstood, as he merely frowned when he heard him talk.

"Good." he replied automatically, then he suddenly swung his cane, which seemed to be made of some unusual elastic material, as it flew through the air almost like a whip, and smacked Ted hard on the side of his face. Ted rolled on the ground and hit the wall next to the steel door. The next hit came at him, bouncing him off like a golf ball, back to where he stood before. The third one almost landed on him, but Ted quickly pulled out one small wrench from his pocket and barely stopped the hit to land on his teeth.

The Chairman looked confused for a moment, most likely unused to the idea of something small like this even trying to fight back. The creature yelled something out, again in that unusual language.

"Parita ma, Jon! Raka Te U!"

The Chairman didn't seem to catch the name of another minion among those words. He lifted the cane again, and swung sideways, but the minion jumped over it. It had a cocky expression on its face all of a sudden, wielding the wrench in his right hand like a sword.

The Chairman smiled eerily.

"Oh, so you want to play? Let's see what you got!"

And so the most unusual sword fight started; a fight between elastic, almost whip-like cane, and a small but tough wrench. Whenever the Chairman would swing, the wrench would make his cane go out of the way. When he tried it sideways, the minion would jump or even duck. At one occasion, Ted made way through his legs. Automatically looking in between his legs, Chairman got a first hit landed on him as the minion punched him in the nose, and cupped his face frowning. The cave echoed with minion's trade mark, bizarre cackle, and it only pissed the Chairman off more.

"I have no time for this joke anymore!"

Ted seemed to have hardly taken all of this as a joke – in fact he was giving him the best he could do. The Chairman started to wonder if all of Gru's servants were that well trained, but if he knew better, he would sadly realize this one was an exceptions, and there were things each of the minions was better at than others.

Ted happened to have a thing for sword fights. Fights in general too.

The minion stopped cackling, and invited the Chairman for another round with a move of his finger.

"You blasted little-!" he reacted, moving in, and swinging his cane – only this time, the cane seemed different. It prolonged, it swayed like a snake, and then with a quick move it wrapper itself around Ted's left hand firmer than a shackle. Ted blinked with an excited "huh?" then frowned, and held his position. The Chairman pulled onto the newly formed whip, slowly getting to Ted, furiously reaching for him, to beat the Hell out of him. But as he reached for Ted's head, a heavy wrench hit his fingers. Chairman let out a loud, childish "ow", as he started to hop on one foot and shake his hand, trying to shake the pain away, and the whip went loose around Ted's wrist. Once more, Ted emitted a loud, annoying cackle.

"You think you're so smart with your childish tricks, eh?" the Chairman hissed angrily. With a swift move of the right hand, one holding the whip, he rearranged it into a cane.

"No more games little one. You wanted a fight, I'll give you one." he finally seemed to have taken his opponent seriously, and charged with his cane. At first Ted was able to put up a defense, but much higher, and with long legs, Chairman didn't let him breathe – soon his speed caught up to Ted's movements, and he took a chance to swing one more time, and hit Ted in the face with the strongest force so far. His wrench flew away from his weakened hand. Ted fell on the floor, its coolness putting him slowly to sleep. The last thing his eyes saw was Chairman reaching for him, and the last thing he heard was the sound of his defeat as his wrench hit the steel ground.

Jon ran as fast as his short legs could carry him through the dark passages of the cave. While they were manually carved, there were so many, it was almost like a labyrinth. However, Jon knew these paths well. Or at least he hoped so.

"Save him, Jon! The mined passages!"

He remembered Ted's words. He had difficulties leaving his friend behind, but he didn't have much of a choice, did he? He was a technician, not a fighter like Ted.

The mined passages were a series of tunnels, not all of them leading to safety, or any place specific at all. In fact only a few had a certain destination to them, but only if the one travelling through knew the map by heart, or was incredibly lucky would be able to travel through without starving to death or getting attacked by some animal – this tunnels weren't decorated with steel plates, modernized or secured. They were the last thing anyone would want to use, and were at some parts connected with the sea, or an underground lake, which caused a fair number of creatures, even unique, dangerous species, to come out sometimes in search for unprepared "tourists".

That is why Jon ran with all his might, because even while nothing as behind him, there was no telling if something will come up if he stops.

That and he had a boss to save.

The destination he was looking for was the cellar. It was the only place at the moment he could've gone to that wasn't secured by turrets and cameras, or at least he was taught so. From there, he would have to do what he was never good at. Sit and think of a good plan that wouldn't get his pretty little behind fired.

But for the time being he decided to focus on the way he was going. After running around for what seemed like hours, but in fact was about half an hour and facing way too many intersections, he finally stopped at an intersection that he remembered as the final one, with only left and right. Trying to get his head clear, he noticed a puddle of water just below the left wall. Tasting it for saltines, he realized it was dropping from the above. Hopefully this meant he wasn't close to the sea. Kneeling down, he cupped the water with his hands and drank, and as he looked up against the wall, he realized he was staring into rather big hole, of imperfect natural shape, about the size of a tennis ball. He squeezed his eyes to take a look, but it was dark as the night down here, with some faint white shrooms providing the only natural light. He started to jump up and down very quickly, and after a minute managed to light himself up to full brightness – it was much harder to do by yourself.

Then he wished he hadn't done that. The light seemed to have drawn out a habitant of the mentioned hole. A long, slippery, black and yellow habitant who was letting out rather angry and sleepy hissing sounds. The snake looked at the glowing little man, slipped its tongues out once or twice, almost like licking its mouth in gluttony, and then showed its huge poisonous teeth in all its glory.

Jon's single eye stared at the snake, terrified. He screamed, its pitch actually distracting the snake for a moment, then ran as fast as he could to the right, which he tried to recall as the right way to go. He could hear the heavy body of a snake falling all the way out of that hole as it followed him.

Jon desperately tried to think of a plan, but besides running and trying to follow the way, there wasn't much he could do – while the snake wasn't that fast chasing someone, he was slow enough for the snake to keep trying. It was probably months before it ate last time. He could have sworn he could hear it drooling for a moment.

Jon suddenly saw a marking on the wall, only thanks to the fact he actually lighted himself up – one of the four only marking in the tunnels to mark the right and final way towards one of four possible destinations. He seemed to have chosen his way right, because the marking said "W.C.". Definitely an abbreviation for "Wine Cellar" he was looking for!

It gave him an extra inspiration to hurry down – he had to gain a bit of advantage to open and close the door without snake interrupting him. In the distance, he could see the wall finally ending, and the old wooden door with a single weak light bulb above it.

Those few seconds he had passed like a lifetime – Jon jumped and hanged himself on the knob, getting the door open, but the snake as right behind him, and it made its lethal, speeding attack on Jon's head. It missed him for a millimeter, some of its saliva falling on Jon's head, as he let go of the knob, let it hit the teeth of the snake, and then got inside in a second, closing the door behind him.

He could hear the angry snake slithering around the door for a moment, then it left. Feeling quite proud of himself, Jon happily turned around to take a look of the cellar – then realized he was standing in a small, unusually nicely decorated public bathroom. With two cabins, two big metal sinks built into wooden counters with a wide mirror above, and a trash bin.

Dark fell over Jon's eyes as he recalled the marker. W.C. The Water Closet. What in the world was he supposed to do now?

Then again, not that he knew what he would do if he ever found the cellar either. Maybe this wasn't such a bad turn of things. Then again, the cellar did have exits into other parts of the villa. He had nowhere to go from a bathroom. Or so he thought until his eyes fell upon a good old air vent cover. Nothing says sneaking around like opening one, and discovering where it goes. And so, after some struggling to climb the cabins and reach and open the vent, Jon started venturing through the complex tunnels of air vent, wondering if he even had a chance of finding Gru like this. Unbeknownst to him, Gru's cell was conveniently placed right above him, not very close, but with a bit of climbing it wasn't that far out of reach.

And as he was climbing the vent, Jon couldn't help but think of his partner, and how he was beat up, his master locked up, how master had that raging fit every once in a while, how Nefario might as well be at home at this very moment, sipping tea, and how they might as well end up rotting away in a cell altogether. But that was nothing to stop our brave little minion. They may have had thoughts like that, minions maybe felt fear, reluctance, hesitance, like anyone normal would in a situation like this, but the good thing was they never let their feelings or thoughts about something change their course of plan. Tonight, Jon had a mission to do anything he can to save his master, and that was exactly what he was going to try and make happen. Even if he failed, he knew that both he and his master will be happy if they both know he gave the best he had. He swallowed and gritted his teeth hard as he started to climb the vent above him once more.


	15. Ready or not

**Before continuing, I'd like to thank every single one of you for reviewing/reading/faving/whatever, I appreciate every single one of those greatly.  
Sorry for the long pause, and hopefully you'll stick with me on this way too long journey of a fanfic. :D**

* * *

"We're getting close." Nefario remark at one point, waking up Edith from her slumber.

"It is time for you three to 'meet' your… equipment. Vector, watch the steering for me, will you."

"Doesn't it drive on auto-pilot? Seriously, you've been driving this by yourself all time?" Vector again tried to mock Nefarios' technology.

"I don't think auto-pilot could avoid any missiles that might come at us." Nefario responded darkly as he got up. A bit embarrassed, Vector decided not to give him another chance to ruin his dignity, and quietly sat down, pouting.

Nefario went up to three big bags he let nearby, with girls eagerly following him. They were all very excited about what Nefario prepared, and also a bit nervous about how will they use it.

"I made each of you a suit" Nefario started explaining "and a weapon of my choice. I think I managed to successfully suppose which one would each of you want. And yes, I actually took your tastes inconsideration when I was making them." He added in the end a bit shy, because the girls seemingly gave him a lovely look of appreciation. He cleared his throat.

"Margo, your bag is green. Edith pink, Agnes blue."

All three of the rushed to open their bags and take a look at the contents, for a moment actually forgetting they headed into a dangerous mission, and feeling like they're opening Christmas presents. As they did, and as they were examining their suits and weapons, Nefario started to speak, in very formal and kind of military manner.

"You three will now engage in a very dangerous mission to save your father, Gru. I expect you all to listen carefully as you examine your suits, and please, for the love of surviving, do NOT try and activate the err, 'weapons'."

Edith stopped at the last moment with a finger on trigger, and then put a dangerous looking machine gun down slowly, under the stern gaze of Nefarios' eye. He continued, visibly calmer.

"Your suit consists of 50% fireproof top, jacket and trousers. You should all have boots easy to tie, and hard as steel yet easy to wear and a pair of gloves. There is a 'hat' "  
he emphasized the word  
"for each of you, and each designed specifically for each of you."

Although it sounded like a generic description, the suits all looked different, but all had a camouflage pattern, despite the colors. Agnes' suit was of dark blue color, very light and easy to move in, and with several bulged pockets that seemed to hide something. When she put a cap over her head, her ponytail jumped out of a premade hole made for her hair, and the wore a pair of white, doctors gloves. Her 'weapon' consisted of a something that resembled an old walkie-talkie.

Margo's suit was green, and because of it, and her height, she almost looked like a soldier. It was made of some sturdy material, and had barely any pockets at all. The cap she had had an unusual eye piece with green glass attached to it. She didn't have any weapon at all, at least not a visible one – she got a small machine that looked like a tiny laptop.

Edith, although adorned with royal color of girly pink, looked like a small explosive tank. She didn't have a hat, but rather a helmet that covered her eyes just as fine as her own cap did. Her suit was tough and hard, and instead of a shirt, she had a real bulletproof armor. Together with suit came an ammunition belt, a belt with some tools, and a pair of fingerless gloves, that unlike others, were black as night – with pink edges, of course. The gun she was checking out before was as big as her, but she didn't seem to have any problems carrying it. She also gained an extra gift her role brought – a small backpack filled with—

"Explosives, Edith." Nefario said casually, ignoring all of a sudden Margo's concerned face.

"Explosives? There is no way in—"

"Do not worry, everything is under control here; they are activated manually, or by a remote control, but can hardly blow up by themselves or as a result of another explosion." Nefario cut her off, and then continued.

"Each of you has been assigned a different role. Seeing as Agnes is the smallest and has natural gift of agility as a small child, she will be our spy – her job will be to get there where we can't and allow us to enter the places we need to. Margo, you're the oldest, and smartest one, so you're going to act as an intelligence agent. Your job will help Agnes get any passwords she'll most likely need, to turn off the alarms and security precautions, and perhaps even use them in our advantage. That leaves you, Edith, in a role of soldier. I think you know what that means."

"Yes!" Edith quietly murmured, shaking her fist joyfully.

"There is a badge on each of your jackets – it is in fact a camera that works on long distances on a weak signal. Its transition isn't perfect, but that is why its signal is extremely hard to notice. We'll most likely be able to use it without problems. This way, I'll be able to monitor your movements."

Nefario sighed loudly, worry obviously all over him.

"For now, that is all you need to know. You'll receive any necessary further instructions once you're on the terrain."

"Oh boy, oh boy" Edith was murmuring silently, looking at the gun as if it was a little baby "I'm gonna be kickin' some a—"

"We're getting close! I'll be landing us, if you don't mind." they suddenly heard Vector announcing, and the all of them could feel the tension in the air. That is all of them except…

"I'll kick their butt." Agnes finished Ediths' thought sinisterly, but unavoidably cutely.

* * *

Soon, Vector, Nefario and the three girls found themselves in the cave Vector seemingly knew well.

"This is where we villains commonly land when coming to meetings and such. There are further tunnel passages into the cave which are roughly made and not done very nicely, but I don't know where they lead. Nowhere important for sure, though. Some say those merely serve as traps for curious "guests" that might arrive."

"We're going through the tunnels then."

"Huh?"

"Did you seriously think we would just barge in through the front door? Considering none alarms are off and that we were spared of an air attack, it is obvious he expects us to show where he wants us. We'll have to take the tunnels, they do lead somewhere, but we'll have to search for a bit."

"Ugh, fine. Just let me get my weapon ready." Vector sighed, and then pulled opened the briefcase he carried from the ship, and assembled a neat, elegant white rifle with a big wide pipe. He armed it ready, and a sea urchin showed up, ready to be fired into the face of any enemy.

"Behold! My Urchin Rifle!"

He mistook the faces of disbelief for expressions of astonishment.

"I know, I know." Vector concluded as they made they way into the complex nature of the mined passages "It is quite neat."

* * *

**I know it is a bit short, and nothing much is happening, but I kind of wanted to give you an idea of what this will look like, because next chapter will be pretty long, and very action-ish. :D**


	16. Ready, get set, ACTION!

**After a long, long, long... LONG break... I'm back. Inspiration and time management is back, to be more correct. To anyone still reading this... Sorry. xD**

**I'll do my best to post a new chapter next week, Saturday, or so.**

Thanks for readin' and enjoy. 

* * *

"Are we there yet~?" Ediths' voice echoed through the long tunnels, spreading an eerie feeling as her voice came back at her again and again, every time more quiet, and sounding more sad and desperate.

"Stop being such a noisy brat." Vector complained back, aiming his Urchin Rifle at any shadow that seemed to move. He looked quite excited about his invention. In all honesty, he couldn't wait to try it out on someone. Too bad it probably won't be Gru, as today he came with intention of saving him – the honor and satisfaction he didn't want to ruin by being his enemy. Not today.

"And YOU stop pointing that all around!" Nefario hissed, swiftly lowering the rifle with the move of his hand.

"You're going to get someone hurt… maybe." he eyes the rifle in disbelief.

Vector pouted angrily.

"Are you trying to tell me something? Because before you do, I'll let you know the Urchin Rifle can, with the right wind, peaceful state of air and fine conditions fire up to speed of 200 meters per second!"

"I sincerely doubt that." Nefario cut off, his scientific mind incapable of listening to such nonsense without a comment.

"It is certainly more reliable than three little girls."

"Hey!"

"What? You ARE a brat."

Edith glared angrily at Vector, who was staring back with the all-knowing look of "duh".

"I am NOT a brat!"

"Yes you are~"

"AM NOT!"

"ARE TOO!"

"AM—"

"WOULD YOU BE QUIET ALREADY?" Nefario roared with quite a demonic tone, which made both kids—Vector and Edith, that is, shut up. They continued down the tunnel in tense silence, it being interrupted solely by Vecotr's and Nefario's bickering about which way they should take.

It took them a few wrong turns, and a single run away from a particular black snake who seemed to be in a nasty mood for some reason – miraculously enough, Vector's urchin gun did it's job when a sea urchin of envious size landed on snake's nose, and chased it away. It took them about half an hour to reach the big double door – it had two small wire covered windows, and beyond them was nothing but darkness.

"This looks like a job for my Urchin—"

His speech was interrupted by Nefario opening the cellar door.

"… Well, that was easy." with sinister look in Nefarios' direction, Vector followed him and the girls in.

Margo soon found the light switch. The cellar was big and old looking; more like it were a part of a castle. The walls were made of big dark gray stone, and all around were giant wine barrels, and a couple of big wine shelves with some of the most expensive wines in the world. The whole room had a medieval feeling to it.

"I think we'll have to do our work from here." Nefario announced as he peeked through the door that led to the stairs to the rest of the villa.

"If we go up, we'll definitely be noticed in a time of minute. If we haven't been noticed already, that is."

He looked around the cellar, inspecting it.

"Girls, the time has come. Our mission starts now." Nefario declared, once again, in a very formal manner.

The moment he said that, Margo put her mini-laptop on the closest barrel, turned it on, and started doing only Nefario knew what, on it, in process checking out a few papers that apparently held instructions.

Agnes scanned the ceiling, and soon found a single air vent.

"You're thinking fast." Nefario said with appreciation, as he suddenly gave her a tech piece and attached it to her cap.

"A camera. Margo, is it-"

"The camera is on and working. The first floor is scanned, we have map of the area." she informed.

"In that case... Agnes. Be careful. If anything happens, imagine your communicator is a sword." he told her as he opened the vent, and raised her to it for her to enter.

Both Margo and Edith raised their eyebrows. They didn't ask any questions, and could only hope that what Nefario said actually meant a bit more – that is, the communicators goal may not be only to communicate.

"Yes grandpa Nefario, Sir!" Agnes suddenly, very unexpectedly said, leaving everyone in state of surprise, and slithered like a bug into the vent. A moment of confusion passed until Edith snickeres.

"Hey, grandpa! Inform me when is my time to make a move! I'm getting impatient!" she said jokingly, yet with heart.

Nefario could do nothing but feel uncomfortable. He was never in his life called a grandpa. Only in a mocking way, that is.

"Err, right, umm... as soon as the camera's are off, you're be.. right." He mumbled oddly, and turned towards Vector next, trying to get over what they said.

"You'll be going with Edith, you know."

"Whaaaat?" Vector nasally whined, like a kid.

"She is still just a child, you know! Though letting her go by herself maybe even IS a better idea."

"Ugh, fine, FINE old man, we'll go together." he sighed flamboyantly.

"Agnes is getting close to the first security camera." Margo informed, and everyone gathered around her. The camera attached on Agnes' cap showed the way through the vent.

"Agnes, can you hear me?" Margo asked into her mic.

"Loud an' clear, officer!" such words coming from her sounded too cutesy, considering the situation.

"Agnes" Margo continued "you will next turn right, open the vent just a little bit, and with plier, you must cut off the wire. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Margo." they heard her, and watched on the camera as she got closer to the vent. She opened it easily, but a bit more than she should. The security camera was soon disabled.

"One down... about 49 more to go." Margo swallowed.

"Vector, Edith... you'll move into the corridor once once camer number six is off. Obliterate or disable anyone or anything you see that is clearly your enemy."

"Sure grandpa!" Edith laughed. Nefario couldn't decide between a smile and a frown.

With a bit more direction from Margo and Nefario, Agnes was able to reach the camera 6 and turn it off, and it was time for Vector and Edith to move into action. Before Nefario could even say anything, the two were already entering the corridor.

"This place is unusually quiet." Vector commented into his ear-piece communicator.

"It probably won't be for long." Nefario reported. "It is just a matter of time before we got noticed by something. Expect a robotic patrol nearby; as we can't detect them, there is a high possibility they'll attack you in an element of surprise."

"Nothing can surprise me!" Vector replied with excitement as him and Edith rushed and turned around the corner of a second corridor; where a group of at least twenty robotic servants, about a meter in size, awaited them. They all automatically aimed at their heads.

"..." everyone fell silent.

"Your next suggestion for a move better be right old man, or we're done for." Vector commented silently, trying to move his lips as little as possible.

"Margo to Agnes; make a distraction in a corridor number 3!"

"Which one is that?" Margo heard Agnes replying with worry. She facepalmed.

"Uh~ the one where you almost fell out of the vent!" Margo quickly recalled, feeling her hand starting to shake.

"Oh, OK."

Agnes seemed to not be worried that two dozens of very angry robots were about to shot her sister, as she took her time to get to the corridor. It seemed though, that the robots were satisfied as long as nobody moved.

A small contraption was, unknowingly by robots, thrown through a nearby vent behind them. A big flash and a lot of smoke emerged, causing a distraction, and some random shooting towards the ceiling.

"Time to kick some metal shiny-"

"Yes!" Margo clenched her fist as Vector and Edith began to make their way through the robots, easily disposing of them now that they paid a little bit less attention to them.

"Take this, you metal can!" Vector yelled out as an urchin gun fired a big sea urchin into the head of a closest robot. The urchin slammed hard into the back of its "head", deforming it quite a lot. The robot turned around in a second, and rushed towards Vector, who merely stepped aside – the robot with messed up sensors ran into a wall, crashing.

"Oh yeah~!" he did a victory dance, swinging his hips.

Edith was, in the meanwhile, using her machine gun, with quite large bullets, to put the robots out of the game in a single shot – it reloaded somewhat slowly though, so she had the chance to try all the different gadgets in her pocket. One of them, oddly, was a banana peel. It served its purpose though, as one robot slipped, and crashed into the other two.

Fifteen minutes passed, and the corridor looked like a waste disposal for old iron.

"Holy Moly, we did it!" Edith gasped; even though she was optimistic from the beginning, the feeling that overwhelmed her was very satisfying when she realized how good of a job she had done.

"Hell, yeah! You're pretty good! For a kid!" Vector commented, but not in mocking way. Edith seemed to appreciate his comment as she did the hip dance with him.

"Don't start celebrating just yet, you two..." they suddenly heard Margo's voice, and after that, Nefario's quiet "oh my".

The two fell quiet, realizing there was a quiet but continuous noise shaking, and it making the walls vibrate. It became louder and louder. It sounded like many many small wheels. Like a bunch of cartwheels.

"I think we have another round coming around the corner." Vector made a good guess. Then he grinned widely.

"I bet I can get more of them than you."

"You're on." Edith lowered her helmet with a smirk as she fired the first bullet into one of the hundreds of robots that came from around the corner.


	17. No stupid questions, only stupid answers

Ted was better. His breathing finally became deeper and more calmer. Gru had taken his jacket off and gently put him down in it, so he wasn't shivering anymore.

Gru didn't know how much time passed. The night was dark, and the moon was still in sight. The morning was far, but it was definitely well past dinner time. He wondered if the girls were sleeping, and if Nefario was worried. He wondered if Nefario suspected anything. Alas, there was no noise from outside, like the sound of alarm, and he never saw or heard anyone coming in a ship. Gru sadly accepted the fact he was forgotten.

He had more than plenty of time to think.

He remembered the day when he first considered quitting villainy, before all this even started. He prepared a lunch for the girls, and they were in the middle of the meal while watching some cartoon. Then Ted walked in, and informed him, like he usually did, that Nefario had a plan for what could be a new very successful mission. More than happy to hear that, he got up right away to pay a visit to Nefario; but his joy sank when Margo asked innocently:

"What's the rush, Mr. Gru?"

The three girls observed him curiously from their family table, and Gru froze with a half joyful smirk. It was the first sign that his life, with both his own children and plans for villainy, isn't going to work that way – he actually was embarrassed to say he had a mission to do, that it was going to be a badass one, and that he police force definitely won't like it.

"Uh, de uhh, umm, Nefario, yes, he, he~ needs my opinion on one of de~ contraptions, yes-"

"Oh, is it something that can blast anything away? Like a powerful sniper rifle? Or a massive bomb? Or a, a gun that turns you into a pile of goo?" Edith immediately started, to witch Margo rolled her eyes.

"Of course it is not, Mr. Gru has better things to do."

The sentence which started this whole blasted thing.

"Y-yes, yes of course, it is just.. something for my ship, nothing interesting..."

"Oh, I see." he girls' eyes were once again glued to the TV.

So began a strike of countless sleepless nights Gru spent thinking it over and over.

_I have better things to do, yes... _she obviously meant raising them. Caring for them. Playing, feeding, educating. Being a parent.

And now, because of that one sentence, he was rotting away in a dungeon, on his way to be transformed into the monstrous being he actually was. Could it really be he was in fact that rotten? He almost hurt his little girls back then. Could it really be there was no shred of care, love or compassion inside of him?

As if answering, Gru felt a strong, tear bringing convulsion, ripping him apart. He barely managed to contain a scream, instead gritting his teeth, and letting out a series of pathetic moans. It stopped. He breathed loudly, and sweat covered him. The convulsion was gone. For now.

He had a slight headache, and wasn't feeling all that well. He thought about lying down, and trying to get some sleep, when a huge explosion from somewhere on the floor shook the whole dungeon. Thanks to somewhat sound proof walls and door, he only heard a portion of the explosion, but enough to conclude it was close, a few halls away perhaps.

Then, countless sounds of metal scratching and hitting, sounds of shooting, so close, Gru was getting anxious. Another explosion, this one not as loud, but strong enough to shake the building once again.

Suddenly, silence. Gru approached the steel door slowly, and gently leaned in, pressing his ear against its cold surface. What a mistake.

_Beep. _

_Beep._

_Beep Beep __BeepBeep__BeepBeep_

The beeping got faster, and Gru has a millisecond of time to jump aside right next to Ted who in the meanwhile awoke from all the noise. The steel door went of with a loud "boom", hitting the opposite side of the room, and staying straight up the wall as if someone glued it to it. The wall cracked where the door hit it.

With a huge amount of disbelief, Gru turned his head, only to see a small pink mess throwing herself into his arms.

"Gru!"

"EDITH?"

"Thank God you're OK!"

"Edith, wat een de world are you doing here?"

"We came to save you!"

"We?"

"Yes, me, Agnes, Margo and grandpa Nefario are all here!"

_Grandpa?_

"Ees dat crazy old man- crazy? How could he bring YOU here!"

"We wouldn't let him go if we couldn't come!" Edith put her tongue out.

"You- OK fine, fine, where are de oders?" he asked in frustration, figuring he will have time to lesson them later.

"They will be here soon. There is someone else with us though." she suddenly got a bit apologetic and smiled as cutely as she could.

Gru raised an eyebrow as he wondered what is the sweet smile all about – then he noticed the shadow that approached them through the remaining dust that slowly dispersed.

"Good to see you again, Gru." Vector smiled almost sinisterly.

Not catching the drift right away, Gru immediately pulled Edith behind him.

"YOU? What are YOU doing here? You're not taking dem again!"

"Gru, GRU! It's OK! He's here with us!"

Gru stared blankly at Vectors' satisfied smile as Ediths' words echoed in his head: "He's here to save you!"

All the extra question fled from his mind at that moment, and he allowed himself to feel utterly embarrassed and humiliated for a few seconds. He wanted to slap himself when the heat covered him; he realized he was getting redder in face.

"That is right – thanks to your humble daughters, and a bit of help from the old man, I, Vector, will have the honor of saving your skin today!" Vector took a comfortable pose worthy of a hero. Edith sighed as her face sank into her palm.

"I'm afraid time for chit-chat is up!" Nefario suddenly interrupted them, followed by Margo who much like Edith instantly threw herself into Gru's arms. The two had been slowly following Edith and Vector as they destroyed anything that might bother them in the hallways.

"I don't think the Chairman though we would get here so fast – or at all. He probably already sent someone to take care of us. We need to get out of here_ now._"

"Where ees Agnes?" Gru interrupted.

"She's still somewhere in the vent." Margo replied with the most casual tone imaginable.

"... Agnes ees een de vent."

"Sure is." she confirmed.

"MY little Agnes" Gru started, advancing towards Nefario "ees sneaking around een de VENT?"

"Well, we needed someone to get all the cameras and sentries disabled, as well as to help bomb the robots, and clear the path, open the coded doors, and allows us onto the staircase."

Gru lookd furious. Then his expression changed totally into the most delightful face ever.

"My little Aggie deed all of dat?" he asked again, this time excited – like a father watching his child's first steps.

"Uh, GAG!" Vector decided to break the happiness. "Peeps, we should scatter, like, ASAP, or we're all getting owned."

"We should wait for Agnes to come out though – according to the map I got, she should get out in one of the nearby vents."

"But where?"

"We have no time!"

"We are definitely not leaving her, you knuckle head!"

"Shhh! Can't you hear that?"

Their argument was broken by a mysterious sound.

It was repetitive, and not too distant. They couldn't figure out what it was. A sound of something hitting a metal surface. Or moving across it. Something like a ball. Only it sounded more... living?

It was getting louder, and it took them all a second to realize it was coming from above. The next moment, the vent fell off, and Agnes and Jon both fell down right into Gru's arms.

"Daddy!"

"Gruuu!"

The minion and Agned squished Gru.

"I guess we're all here now. Now we GO."

"But..."

"Oh, what now?"

"De Chairman, he... there ees no cure for my state. Ees what he told me."

Everybody, even Vector, looked at Gru in surprise.

"No cure? It was merely but a poison-"

"Eet ees a strong serum, and eet can't be helped... I will turn into a monster.. een fact... een few more hours... Even eef there was a cure, een few hours eet will be too late." Gru looked at them all, feeling the burden of disappointment everybody shared.

Silence filled the room. Then Vector snorted.

"Yeah right! By the laws of a math, every problem has a solution!"

"... what?"

Vector adjusted his Urchin Rifle.

"I haven't come all this way not to save you. Change of plan, fellas. We're going to face that bloody Chairman and make him give you the cure. There is no such thing as no solution to something!"

"You know what, you're right! We'll kick this guys' bum once and for all!" Margo suddenly said.

"We're not going back home without you anyway. We'll cure you." Edith added.

"Yeah, Other Gru wouldn't like to play with me." Agnes admitted.

Nefario shook his head, absolutely against the idea of the three of them in battle with the Chairman who definitely had an Ace in his sleeve to fight them off, but knew it would be in vain to try and talk them out. They pretty much had no choice.

"Gru?"

Gru stood still. He never felt so connected to these people before him. Surprisingly that included Vector. He felt like he could take on the world.

"Here's your Ray Gun. We picked it up in one of the storage rooms on our way here." Edith smirked. Gru realized he had a good old evil smile on his face.

"I guess I have no choice, do I?"

The girls shook their head like one.

"Een dat case... let's roll."

* * *

***badass pose from each of them for which I don't have a picture***

**"Hey Vector, if every problem has a solution, then 1 : 0 = ?"**

**"The bottom line is, we're saving your dad, stop messing it up."**

**Inspiration is back. Freakin' finally. -.-**


End file.
